The right to attend a General Shareholders’ Meeting shall accrue to the holders of at least 300 shares, provided that such shares are registered in their name in the corresponding book-entry registry five days in advance of the date on which the General Shareholders’ Meeting is to be held, and provided also that they present evidence thereof with the appropriate attendance card or share certificate issued by any of the entities participating in the institution that manages such book-entry registry, or directly by the Company itself, or in any other manner permitted under law. Such card or certificate may be used by the shareholders as the document whereby to grant a proxy for the General Shareholders’ Meeting in question.
Every shareholder having the right to attend the General Shareholders’ Meeting may be represented thereat by another person, even if not a shareholder, The proxy must be granted specifically for each General Shareholders’ Meeting, either by using the proxy form printed on the attendance card or in any other manner permitted by the law.
The documents setting forth the proxies for the General Shareholders’ Meeting shall contain instructions regarding the direction of the vote. Unless otherwise expressly indicated by the shareholder granting the proxy, it shall be understood that the shareholder gives specific instructions to vote in favor of the proposed resolutions put forward by the Board of Directors regarding the matters on the agenda.
If there are no voting instructions because the shareholders acting at the General Shareholders’ Meeting are to decide matters that are not included in the agenda and are thus unknown on the date that the proxy is granted but which may be submitted to a vote at the General Shareholders’ Meeting, the proxy-holder shall vote in such direction as he deems most appropriate, taking into account the interest of the Company and that of the shareholder granting the proxy. The same rule shall apply when the relevant proposal or proposals submitted to the shareholders at the General Shareholders’ Meeting have not been made by the Board of Directors.
If the document setting forth the proxy does not state the specific person or persons to whom the shareholder grants the proxy, such proxy shall be deemed granted in favor of any of the following: the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, or the person that stands in for him as Chairman of the General Shareholders’ Meeting, or such person as is appointed by the Board of Directors, with notice of such appointment being given in advance in the notice of the call to meeting. If the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, or the person acting in his stead, or the person appointed by the Board of Directors, as applicable, is affected by any of the conflicts of interest contemplated in the law and the document setting forth the proxy does not contain any specific instructions, the proxy shall be deemed granted to the Secretary for the General Shareholders’ Meeting.
Without prejudice to the foregoing, shareholders who do not hold the minimum number of shares required are entitled, at any time, to give a proxy to vote those shares, to a shareholder entitled to attend the General Meeting, or to pool shares with other shareholders in the same situation until the necessary shares are pooled, appointing in writing one of such shareholders as proxy.
