Suchergebnisse für Generalversammlung

Schiedsklauseln in den Statuten von Schweizer Aktiengesellschaften und GmbH

The Swiss legislator clarified that the articles of associations of Swiss companies limited by shares and limited liability companies may include arbitration clauses. This note first discusses issues such as arbitrability, validity and scope of statutory arbitration clauses, i.e., issues arising in the context of arbitration clauses and arbitration agreements alike. It then discusses an issue…

Informationskonzept im neuen Aktienrecht

The information asymmetry between shareholders and managers calls for the implementation of an efficient information concept within stock corporations. In the course of the Swiss Stock Corporation Reform of 2020, the former information concept was partially revised. This article takes a critical look at the revised provisions and puts them in context.

Neuausrichtung des «Swiss Code of Best Practice for Corporate Governance» auf den Wandel der Zeit

The «Swiss Code of Best Practice for Corporate Governance», which was first published in 2002 and has since been revised several times, has become the most important guideline for good corporate governance in Switzerland and is widely accepted because it shows practical solutions based on expertise and experience. It compensates for its non-binding nature and lack of legal legitimacy, so to speak…

Das Kapitalband

The revision of the Swiss law on companies limited by shares, which came into force on January 1, 2023, introduced the capital band («Kapitalband»). This new legal institution leads to more flexibility for the companies with regard to equity financing by giving the shareholders the possibility to authorize the board of directors to increase and decrease the share capital without a prior…

Sanierungsausnahme und selektives Opting out/up – ein Vergleich

If a listed company is in financial difficulties and has found a potential restructurer who wishes to acquire a larger shareholding but does not wish to be under an obligation to make an offer to acquire all listed equity securities of the company, under the Swiss takeover law two alternatives stand in the foreground: applying for an exemption from the obligation to make an offer for…

Die Governance von PostFinance – Zwischen Grundversorgungsauftrag, Systemrelevanz und Kreditverbot

This article deals with the governance of PostFinance, a financial institute held by the Swiss Post. PostFinance has on one hand a service obligation for basic payment transaction services. On the other hand, PostFinance is banned from the credit and mortgage business and has to operate on a restricted business model. On top, PostFinance is qualified as a systemically important financial…

Kantonalbanken im Spannungsfeld von Political Governance und Corporate Governance

Like the other banks, the cantonal banks are facing the challenges of increasing regulation, digitalisation and the persistently low interest rate environment, and are exposed to the accompanying competitive and margin pressure. They have to virtually reinvent their business models and themselves in order to secure their positions as future-oriented financial service providers in their regions…

Klimawandel

Climate litigation against companies has increased significantly in the past couple of years, not only in the United States, but also in Europe. At the same time, regulation with respect to climate change is developing rapidly, such that it may be difficult for companies to identify which laws apply to them and how they should address the legal risks relating to climate change and climate…

Digitale Generalversammlungen und Verwaltungsratssitzungen

The 19 June 2020 revision of the provisions on the limited by shares company contains various facilitations for the use of technical means in the conduct of general meetings and board meetings. What are the concrete options available and what are the practical implications of these innovations? What do banks need to consider from a prudential perspective? After an overview of the digitization in…

Protokollierung von GV- und VR-Beschlüssen als Gültigkeitsform

The «new» corporation law provides for some new and overall numerous ways to conduct shareholders’ and board meetings. Irrespective of the way they are conducted there is a duty to minute the meetings. Contrary to the traditional opinion the minutes are a validity requirement. Not minuted shareholders’ and board resolutions are therefore not valid and null and void.

Aktienrechtsrevision und Handelsregister

The biggest change in registration is probably the move away from registration as an anti-proxy transaction by introducing various proxy options. With the revision of stock corporation law, the documentary evidence principle was retained in principle. Pursuant to Art. 937 of the Swiss Code of Obligations, the Commercial Registry Office must verify, both at the time of incorporation and in the…

Neues Aktienrecht als Inspiration für den Gläubigerschutz bei Umstrukturierungen

What is the adequate level of creditor protection in corporate restructurings? The present article sheds a critical light on the current creditor protection provisions in the Swiss Merger Act and proposes, inspired by provisions of the new Swiss Stock Corporation Act, a partial reform of the Swiss Merger Act.

Eigentümerstrukturen von Schweizer Aktiengesellschaften

The ownership structure of a corporation is in many respects a crucial determinant from a corporate governance perspective. In finance and business economics, a large variety of theoretical and empirical work has focused on corporate ownership structures and their implications. In the legal field, however, the topic has been rather neglected so far. This article provides an empirical study of…

Auskunfts- und Einsichtsrecht des Aktionärs – Durchzogene Bilanz der Aktienrechtsrevision

The revision of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO) concerning the joint stock corporation – which will come into force on 1 January 2023 – substantially alters the shareholders’ rights to ask for information about the affairs of the company and to inspect its ledgers and files. Compared to the present legal situation, which only entitles a shareholder to obtain information during the course of a…

Geschäftsherrenhaftung im Konzernverhältnis?

On November 29, 2020, the Corporate Responsibil­ity-Initiative failed in the referendum by a majority of the cantons. The debate on the Corporate Responsibility Initiative and the indirect counter-proposal of the Swiss Parliament focused on the question of the extent to which Swiss companies should be held liable for the activities of the companies they control in the area of human rights and…

Marge de fluctuation du capital (art. 653s ss nCO) : de la sauvegarde des créanciers et des actionnaires, en particulier lors de l’acquisition par la SA de ses propres actions

As of the entry into force, on 1^st January 2023, of the revised Swiss Limited Companies Law (« Aktiengesell­schaft », « société anonyme »), the margin of fluctuation of capital (« Kapitalband », « marge de fluctuation du capital ») will allow the general assembly of shareholders to authorise the board of directors to increase or reduce the share capital within a certain interval during a maximum…

Relationship Agreements zwischen Vertragsfreiheit und zwingendem Aktienrecht

Relationship agreements between listed companies and large shareholders have gained in popularity over the past years. Relationship agreements cover such topics as the shareholder’s representation on the board of directors, voting at shareholder meetings, the shareholder’s right to receive information from the company, and exit provisions (e.g., lock-up and standstill undertakings). From the…

Nichtfinanzielle Berichterstattung nach dem Gegenvorschlag zur Konzernverantwortungsinitiative und ihre Bedeutung für den Finanzsektor

The financial market and its players play a key role in the pursuit of a sustainable economic system. If capital flows are specifically directed toward sustainable products and services, financial market participants can make a significant contribution to a resource-efficient economy. A key prerequisite for the regulatory control of the achievement of sustainability goals is the reporting of…

Salärgovernance und neues Aktienrecht

In determining the compensation of directors and top management, the board of directors of public companies is faced with a structural conflict of interest. The aim to mitigate this conflict through an appropriate design of the procedure forms the essence of the say-on-pay rules introduced by the Swiss electorate in a public vote in 2013 and implemented on a transitional basis in the Ordinance…

Die Rolle der FINMA bei Vergütungen in Banken und Versicherungen

Compensation and remuneration schemes in financial institutions always have been, and still are, a hot potato. The past decade has been particularly eventful in terms of both regulation and supervision, not only in Switzerland, but also abroad. Against this backdrop, this article aims to discuss the role of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, FINMA, with regard to compensation in…

Moderne Formen der Generalversammlung im revidierten Aktienrecht 2020

The revision in 2020 of the Swiss law on companies limited by shares (Aktiengesellschaft) as created the legal basis for modernizing the annual general meeting (AGM) of shareholders of limited companies, also making it more flexible. Today’s electronic means of communication have opened up new possibilities for how AGMs can be conducted. Especially in large corporations, but also in smaller…

Statutarische Gerichtsstandsklauseln

Jurisdiction clauses are ubiquitous in commercial contracts. They are less common in the articles of association of Swiss corporations. However, our analysis shows that jurisdiction clauses are a helpful and effective in­strument for Swiss corporations, especially in an international context. The effects are especially pronounced under the Lugano Convention, because according to case law of the…

Die Auswirkungen des Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsgesetzes auf das Aktienrecht

In spring 2020, the Swiss Federal Council launched, among other things, the Covid-19 credit programme in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. About 20% of all Swiss corporations have subsequently taken out a Covid-19 loan. Initially, the Covid-19 Joint and Several Surety Ordinance («Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsverordnung») served as the legal basis of the credit programme. Later the ordinance was…

Lediglich «Punktuelle Anpassungen und Präzisierungen der Bestimmungen zum bedingten Kapital»? Bedingt zutreffend!

The Swiss corporate law reform has made capital structure alterations more flexible. This also applies, with some exceptions, to the form of capital authorization for the board of directors to issue equity linked finance instruments: conditional capital. Neither the raison d’être nor the fundamental principles of conditional capital have been disputed in the corporate law reform. Nevertheless,…

Corporate Governance et liberté d’organisation

The question of limits to contractual freedom in corporate law is intensively discussed in connection with corporate governance. In that context, the tension between authority and accountability of the board of directors and the best way to address this issue in corporate law are two of the most controversial topics. Over these last years, the trend in almost all jurisdictions has been to…

Kapitalerhöhung, Kapitalherabsetzung, insb. innerhalb des Kapitalbands, und der Erwerb und die Veräusserung eigener Aktien

The corporate law reform was passed by the Swiss Parliament on 19 June 2020. It will most probably enter into force in 2023. Its most innovative feature, the capital band, raises a lot of interesting legal issues, inter alia regarding its relationship with the provisions on the acquisition and disposal of own shares. The following article analyses this relationship and the relationship of capital…

Interessenkonflikte unter dem neuen Aktienrecht

As every person, board members and managers have or represent interests. It is unavoidable and nothing «evil» that these interests may sometimes not be aligned with the interests of the company they serve. However, if not properly dealt with, conflicts of interest may become a problem harming the company. As part of the 2020 revision of corporate law, the Swiss parliament has adopted a new art…

SPACs aus Schweizer Sicht

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) have been in use in the US for many decades and in their current form since roughly two decades with almost 1000 SPAC listings over these twenty years. A SPAC is a listed company that aims at acquiring or combining with an operating company to bring that company public (so called De-SPAC). For that purpose the founders and sponsors invest capital to…

Das Kapitalband im neuen Aktienrecht

On June 19, 2020, the National Council and the Council of States adopted the revision of the Swiss law on companies limited by shares. This article deals with the capital band («Kapitalband») that introduces the possibility for shareholders to authorize the board of directors to increase and reduce the share capital without previous resolution by the general meeting. In line with an…

Die Pflichten des Verwaltungsrates bei drohender Zahlungsunfähigkeit nach neuem Aktienrecht

On 19 June 2020 the Swiss parliament adopted the final text of the new provisions of the Swiss Code of Obligations relating to the revised law on companies limited by shares. Among other things, the relevant provisions cover situations of financial distress and apply to companies limited by shares as well as to other company forms. Aside of the pre-existing legal provisions governing the capital…

Kartellrechtliche Fragen bei der Gründung eines Joint Ventures

Opening up new markets or pursuing major projects can often only be achieved with partners, which is why companies form joint ventures. When planning and implementing such cooperation projects, economic and contractual considerations are in practice the main focus. However, the influence of antitrust law on this form of cooperation should not be underestimated. The relevance of antitrust law is…

Good Corporate Governance: Von der Zielsetzung zur Unternehmens­organisation – am Beispiel des neuen Aktienrechts

The authors start out by noting that the term and discussion around corporate governance developed from a technical designation without content to a concept of «good» corporate governance that increasingly prescribes the ways, not the goals of corporate governance. Likewise, the question whether a corporate governance system is good or bad is not measured in light of its efficiency in achieving…

Prüfungsrecht und -pflicht der AG in Bezug auf das Aktieneigentum ihrer Aktionäre, v.a. auch im Zusammenhang mit den neuen Vorschriften des Global Forum-Gesetzes

In the recent past the ownership (title) due diligence in share deals, i.e. the due diligence regarding the seller’s unencumbered ownership in the sold shares, became more and more important in practice, as experience shows that in a high percentage of cases there are se­rious issues in this respect. This leads to the question on the scope of the examination rights and examination obligations of…

Generalversammlungen von AG: «Landsgemeinden» oder «Chatrooms»?

Digitalization will cause a fundamental change regarding general meetings of Swiss stock corporations. Currently, Swiss corporate law provides that shareholders must be physically present, or validly represented at a general meeting and may not participate in writing or by electronic means; the «COVID-19 regime», however, allows e.g. «cyber general meetings». The new Swiss law on corporations,…

Prospektpflicht nach FIDLEG

Switzerland has modernized its prospectus law by introducing new extensive rules in the Financial Services Act. The legislator closely considered the existing rules of SIX Swiss Exchange for the admission to trading and the rules applicable in the EEA. Fundamental changes are the mandatory review by a review body of prospectuses to be published in case of a public offer. In connection with the…

Was ist «wirtschafts-verträgliches» Aktienrecht?

The last comprehensive overhaul of Swiss corporation law dates from 1991. The revised law was intended to provide more transparency, improve shareholder rights and set goalposts with respect to corporate organization and corporate powers. But the 1991 corporation law fell short of international standards, especially for listed companies. Numerous pieces of legislation and self-regulatory…

Konzept und Praxis der aktienrechtlichen Sanierung

This essay deals with capital loss and overindebtedness and the related duties of the Board of Directors according to the current Swiss Code of Obligations. Furthermore, a look is taken at the future Swiss restructuring law. It has been concluded that Swiss restructuring law does little credit to its name as most restructuring proceedings end in bankruptcy of the respective company. One possible…

Aktien als digitalisierte Werte

Shares issued on a distributed ledger have already been designated as a future market standard. The potential of these dlt-shares is also acknowledged by the Swiss government, which has published a preliminary draft on the adaptation of federal law to developments in distributed ledger technology earlier this year. This essay focuses on various mainly private law issues related to the issuance…

Anspruch auf Sicherstellung bei Kapitalherabsetzung und Liquidation

The article analyses the creditor’s right to ask for his/her claim to be secured in the procedures of capital ­decrease and liquidation. The strict and very similar rules in both procedures aim to protect the creditors. The authors conclude that a creditor’s right to ask for security shall be subject to the same requirements in both procedures. In this article, the authors state the following: (i…

Transparenz von Aktionärbindungsverträgen und Gesellschafte­r­bindungsverträgen in Kapitalgesellschaften

A shareholders’ or members’ agreement is a contract concluded by some or all shareholders or members of a company, eventually with the involvement of the company itself, in order to arrange their legal position complementary to or differing from the relevant company law framework. Although dogmatically diverging, the contractual provisions and company law norms often form a unity. However,…

Gedanken zum einstweiligen Rechtsschutz gegen pflichtwidriges Handeln von Verwaltungsräten

Swiss law does not allow for the challenge of resolutions taken by the board of directors of a corporation, and only in extreme cases they may be deemed null and void. However, according to a recent decision by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, this does not exclude claims against a corporation to enforce statutory rights that were denied by the board of directors. Against the background of this…

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown – Zur Rolle des Verwaltungsrates in schweizerischen Publikumsgesellschaften

The board of directors of a Swiss public company is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Shareholders breathe down directors’ necks with earnings expectations, but the results are delivered by an executive management under the board’s control rather than by the board itself. The executives who run the business on a day-to-day basis know the company better than the board. This allows them to…

«Gute Praxis» der Unternehmensführung: Was gehört sich und was funktioniert?

The legal means influencing the practice of the board are very largely the rules on director’s liability. The case law of the Federal Court has recently made these rules more efficient and more foreseeable through the development of a Swiss version of the Business Judgement Rule (BJR). They could be further improved if the Courts were to integrate Corporate Governance models in the BJR condition…

Pflichten des Verwaltungsrats einer möglichen Zielgesellschaft

Even though the shareholders are the addressees of a takeover bid, the sale process of a listed target company is largely determined by the target’s board of directors: The board of directors is responsible for the negotiations prior to the publication of a takeover bid and can often influence by its actions whether a (possibly un­friendly) takeover bid will occur. Of decisive importance for the…

Die Regelung von Interessenkonflikten im Aktienrecht de lege lata und de lege ferenda

Conflicts of interest are a threat to the functioning of the board of directors and the management of a public limited company. This paper looks into the legal regime applicable in cases of a conflict of interest while dealing with third parties. It then tries to establish rules to safeguard an internal decision-making process solving conflicts of interest. Finally it assesses the effectiveness…

Wie die Arbeit, so der Lohn – Vergütung in privaten und kotierten Gesellschaften

Rising executive pay is a vital topic for shareholders, proxy advisors, academics and the wider public. It is worth noting that the remuneration of auditors for their audit services has hardly attracted shareholder attention even though falling audit fees may be a reason for weaknesses in corporate control. In this perspective it looks like an anomaly that the remuneration of the party…

Aktuelle Rechtsprechung zum Aktienrecht

Over the last two years, Swiss company law jurisprudence has been subject to numerous developments and clarifications. The following article discusses selected examples of recent federal and cantonal case law. A first section deals with a Federal Supreme Court decision on the attribution of company bodies’ knowledge to the legal entity. It provides an in-depth analysis of the de­cision and sets…

Derivatgeschäfte: Anwendung der FinfraG-Regulierung auf Schweizer Handels- und Industrieunternehmen

The Swiss rules on the conduct in connection with derivative transactions and trading set out in the Federal Act on Financial Market Infrastructures and Market Conduct in Securities and Derivatives Trading (FMIA) and its implementing ordinances were enacted more than two years ago, subject to applicable phase-in periods. However, when it comes to their applicability to commercial and industrial…

Funktion(en) des Aktienrechts – vom Organisationsrecht zum Katalysator der Gesellschaftspolitik?

Swiss Corporate Law (Articles 620 et seq. of the Swiss Code of Obligations) is undergoing permanent changes since the 19^th century. Originally, these articles provided the legal basis for structuring and organizing corporations in the most efficient way – not more; therefore, the main focus was placed on protection of investors (i.e. the legal protection for both shareholders and creditors). Over…

Die virtuelle Generalversammlung

On November 23, 2016, the Federal Council published its proposal for a revised law on companies limited by shares. This article deals with the virtual general assembly, one of the key aspects in the pursued modernisation of the general assembly in the context of the proposed revision. First, it addresses the proposed amendments regarding the virtual general assembly. Second, the article analyzes…