2005-03-11
Notice of the Annual General Meeting of shareholders
The shareholders of Fortum Corporation are invited to the Annual
General Meeting to be held on Thursday, 31 March 2005 at 11.00 am, at
Finlandia Hall (concert hall), address: Mannerheimintie 13 e, Helsinki.
Entrance Mannerheimintie door M4 and Karamzininkatu door K4.
Registration of shareholders who have notified the company of their
attendance begins at 9.45 am. The Annual General Meeting will be
conducted in Finnish and interpreted simultaneously into Swedish and
English.
The following items are on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting:
1. Matters to be resolved by the Annual General Meeting pursuant to
Article 18 of the Articles of Association
Payment of dividend in cash
The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that, in
addition to the distribution of shares as a dividend (as proposed below
in section 2), a dividend in cash of EUR 0.58 per share be paid for the
financial year ending 31 December 2004. The dividend will be paid to
those shareholders who, on the record date for dividend payment, 5
April 2005, are registered in the register of shareholders of the
company, maintained by the Finnish Central Securities Depository Ltd.
The dividend payment date is 15 April 2005, with the dividend paid in
cash entered on the shareholders’ accounts on 18 April 2005.
Composition of the Board of Directors
The shareholders' Nomination Committee, appointed at the Annual General
Meeting on 25 March 2004, proposes to the Annual General Meeting that
among the present board members Peter Fagernäs be re-elected as
Chairman, Birgitta Kantola as Vice Chairman and Birgitta
Johansson-Hedberg, Lasse Kurkilahti and Erkki Virtanen as members, and
Matti Lehti, President of TietoEnator Corporation, and Marianne Lie,
Director General of the Norwegian Shipowners' Association, be elected
as new members. All the candidates have given their consent to the task.
The Nomination Committee proposes that the emoluments for the Board of
Directors are the following: for the Chairman, EUR 55,000 annually; for
the Vice Chairman, EUR 42,000 annually; and for members, EUR 30,000
annually. The Committee also proposes a fee of EUR 500 per meeting,
which will also be paid for attending meetings of the Board's
Committees.
Auditors
On the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors
proposes that the current auditor of the company,
PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd, which is an audit firm certified by the
Central Chamber of Commerce, be re-elected to act as the auditor. The
term of office of the auditor expires at the end of the first Annual
General Meeting following the election.
2. Proposal of the Board of Directors to distribute Neste Oil
Corporation shares as a dividend
According to the view of the Board of Directors of Fortum Corporation,
the business of Neste Oil Corporation carrying out oil business
activities can be best improved by separating the company from the
Fortum Group and seeking to list its shares on Helsinki Stock Exchange.
The separation is proposed to be implemented by the distribution of
approximately 85 per cent of Neste Oil Corporation shares as a
dividend, and by the sale of approximately 15 per cent of the shares to
the public and to institutional investors in Finland and, with certain
restrictions, abroad. After these measures the State of Finland would
own 50.1 per cent of Neste Oil Corporation shares. This outcome is in
line with the government proposal (HE 94/2003) on state ownership of
shares in the company which carries out the oil business activity of
Fortum, which was approved by the Finnish Parliament on 3 December 2003.
As a consequence of the above, the Board of Directors proposes to the
Annual General Meeting that the Annual General Meeting resolves to
distribute as a dividend altogether 217,963,549 Neste Oil Corporation
shares so that each shareholder of Fortum Corporation receives as a
dividend one (1) Neste Oil Corporation share for each four (4) Fortum
Corporation shares, which have a par value of EUR 3.40 owned by the
shareholder.
The share dividend will be paid to those shareholders of Fortum
Corporation who, on the record date for dividend payment, 5 April 2005,
are registered in the register of shareholders of the company,
maintained by the Finnish Central Securities Depository Ltd. The
payment date of the share dividend is 15 April 2005, with the shares
distributed as dividend entered on the shareholders’ book-entry
accounts on or about 18 April 2005.
A prerequisite for the payment of the dividend is that Neste Oil
Corporation shares have been admitted for trading on the Helsinki Stock
Exchange.
In the case of a shareholder of Fortum Corporation who, due to the
above mentioned dividend distribution ratio, is, for each specific
book-entry account, entitled to receive as a dividend a fraction of a
share in Neste Oil Corporation, a corresponding proportion of the
share’s value which is determined at the time of the offering of shares
will be paid to the dividend receiver in cash. An amount corresponding
to the fractions will be paid to the accounts of shareholders entitled
to fractions on 18 April 2005. Fractions of shares will be combined
into entire shares and they will be sold as a part of the sale of
shares or immediately after Neste Oil Corporation shares have been
admitted for trading on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
To those shareholders who have not transferred their shares to the
book-entry system, the dividend will be paid after their shares have
been transferred to the book-entry system. The share dividend will be
paid in cash to those shareholders whose shares have not been
registered to the book-entry account on the record date.
Fortum Corporation shall be liable for any transfer tax levied on the
distribution of the dividend.
As the payer of the dividend, Fortum Corporation is obliged to pay tax
at source or withholding tax levied on the total amount of the share
dividend and the dividend paid in cash. The tax will be deducted from
the dividend paid in cash.
3. Proposal of the Board of Directors to amend Articles 2, 6, 8, 9, 11,
13 and 18 of the Articles of Association
The main content of the amendments is the following:
- It is proposed to delete the following from the article pertaining to
the company’s field of activity (2 §): the production, procurement,
transmission, distribution and sale of oil as well as carrying out
activities in the oil and chemical industries and trade and merchant
shipping.
- The Supervisory Board consists of no less than six (6) members and of
no more than twelve (12) members. A person who has reached the age of
68 years may not be elected to the Supervisory Board or to the Board of
Directors (6 § and 8 §).
- The provision stating that the Board of Directors may decide on the
sale of the shares of the company, established through the demerger of
Fortum Oil and Gas Oy and engaged in the oil business, only if so
authorised in advance by the Annual General Meeting, is deleted from
the article pertaining to the duties of the Board of Directors (9 §).
- The right of the Chairman of the Board of Directors to sign alone for
the company is deleted from the article pertaining to signing for the
company (11 §).
- The article pertaining to the auditors (13 §) is amended so that the
company has one regular auditor, which shall be an audit firm certified
by the Central Chamber of Commerce. The reference to an auditor's age
limit is deleted from the article. Sub-sections 7–12 of Article 18 are
amended to correspond to the fact that the company has only one auditor.
The amendment of articles 2 and 9 of the Articles of Association shall
become valid and can be implemented only if the distribution of Neste
Oil Corporation shares as a dividend, as mentioned above in section 2,
is fulfilled according to the proposal of the Board of Directors.
4. Proposal of the Board of Directors to establish a foundation under
the name of Fortumin Taidesäätiö and to donate its first capital
5. Proposal of the shareholder George Jauhiainen to dissolve the
Supervisory Board
6. Proposal of the State of Finland to appoint the Nomination Committee
The State of Finland, represented by the Ministry of Trade and
Industry, proposes that the Annual General Meeting resolves to appoint
a Nomination Committee to prepare proposals concerning Board members
and their emoluments for the following Annual General Meeting. The
Nomination Committee would consist of the Chairman of the Board of
Directors, acting as an expert member, and the representatives of the
three main shareholders. The three shareholders whose share of the
total votes of all the shares of the company is largest on the date of
1 December preceding the Annual General Meeting would be entitled to
appoint the members representing the shareholders. The Nomination
Committee would be convened by the Chairman of the Board of Directors
and the Committee would choose a chairman from among its own members.
The Committee should give its proposal for the members of Board of
Directors of the company by 1 February at the latest preceding the
Annual General Meeting.
Documents
The Financial Statements release of the company and the proposals
mentioned above in sections 2-4 will be available to shareholders on
Fortum's website (
www.fortum.com)
from 15 March 2005 at the latest.
The Financial Statements and the other documents with their
appendices are also to be seen from 22 March 2005 at the company's head
office, address Keilaniementie 1, 02150 Espoo. Copies of these
documents can be sent on request to shareholders (telephone number +358
(0)10 452 9151 or by email
juha.ahonen@fortum.com).
Right to attend the Annual General Meeting
Shareholders who are registered on 21 March 2005 in the register of
shareholders of the company, maintained by the Finnish Central
Securities Depository Ltd, are entitled to attend the Annual General
Meeting.
Shareholders who hold their shares under the name of a nominee can be
temporarily registered in the register of shareholders of the company
on 21 March 2005 to allow attendance at the Annual General Meeting.
Shareholders wishing to attend the Annual General Meeting must notify
the company of their attendance by 4.00 pm (Finnish time) on 23 March
2005 at the latest either:
- by phone on +358 (0) 10 452 9460,
- by fax on +358 (0) 10 262 2727,
- by email to
fortum.yhtiokokous@yhteyspalvelut.elisa.fi,
or
- by letter to Rita Lagerstedt, Fortum Corporation, P.O. Box 1,
FI-00048 FORTUM, Finland.
Notifications must arrive by 4.00 pm (Finnish time) on 23 March 2005 at
the latest.
Powers of attorney
Any powers of attorney should be delivered with notifications so that
they also arrive by 4.00 pm (Finnish time) on 23 March 2005 at the
latest.
Espoo, 10 March 2005
FORTUM CORPORATION
Board of Directors
Fortum Corporation
Carola Teir-Lehtinen
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
Distribution:
Helsinki Stock Exchange
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