Suchergebnisse für Generalversammlung

Vertrauen, Kredit und Kreditsicherheiten

The relationship between creditor and debtor has often been described as a quintessential relationship based on trust, as evidenced by etymological origin of the term credit. Credit relationships are indeed shaped by the risk of opportunistic behavior of the debtor and principal agent problems. Limiting these risks by providing adequate incentives for cooperative behavior is a key objective in…

Finanznotlagerecht

The Bill of 2016 for a revision of the Swiss Corporation Law addresses, with new and quite lengthy dispositions, the thorny problem of corporate reorganizations in the event of upcoming financial difficulties. On the one hand, the classical and quite formal equity-related ­approach of European Continental Law to prevent ­«unlawful trading» is maintained, i.e. the Board’s duty to take immediate…

Salär-Governance

2017 was a special year for Swiss listed companies. Several compensation reports met fierce resistance from shareholders and proxy advisors, and in one case, a binding vote on executive compensation was rejected. The 2017 proxy season has shown that shareholders do not appreciate compensation models in which osten­sibly pay and performance are not related. Also, the season has shown that over…

Stimmrechtsaktien und andere bevorzugte Aktien

There are many ways to grant privileges to specific categories of shareholders and one can distinguish between financial privileges and privileged voting rights in the general assembly of all shareholders. In future, this is to remain unchanged, and accordingly the November 2016 draft of Swiss Law on corporations does not propose any decisive modifications. With regards to the new rules for…

Das Aktienkapital im Entwurf zur Aktienrechtsrevision

On November 23, 2016, the Federal Council published its proposal for a revised law on companies limited by shares. This article deals with the share capital, one of the key aspects of the proposed revision. First, it addresses the specific characteristic of Swiss law, according to which shares have a nominal value. Second, the article analyzes how the procedures of capital changes are regulated in…

Vorschläge zur Aktienrechtsrevision

On November 23, 2016, the Federal Council published its proposal for a revised law on companies limited by shares. After the proposal was mainly well received it’s ready to take the next step: Since the Legal Affairs Committees decided to enter into the proposal the National Council will probably hold discussions 2017 (Winter Session). This year’s SZW Conference strongly focused on the proposal…

Vinkulierung an der Bruchstelle zwischen kotierter Gesellschaft und nicht kotierten Aktionären

This article contains a selective analysis of the current system of share transfer restrictions (Vinkulierung), in particular with regard to the scope of application of the relevant provisions in relation to direct and indirect investments in publicly held companies, that has raised public interest in connection with the “Sika”-case. The authors illustrate the current state of established…

Leuchttürme oder Untiefen?

Sometimes, courts must remain silent for many years on important questions, simply for lack of cases, until we find ourselves suddenly confronted with unexpected decisions. This happened with the possibilities corporations had to deal in their by-laws with blockage situa­tions in the shareholder meeting. The Federal Tribunal overturned last year a decades old rule enabling companies to attribute…

Übermässige Bindung im Aktionärbindungsvertrag

Die Aktionäre B. (nachfolgend B. oder Beschwerdegegner) und A. (nachfolgend A. oder Beschwerdeführer) gründeten zusammen mit dem inzwischen verstorbenen C. am 10. Januar 1985 die D. AG und schlossen…

Sacheinlage- und Sachübernahmevertrag

The contribution in kind agreement is a contract not specifically classified in the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO). According to the prevailing legal opinion the contribution in kind agreement has to be interpreted in line with contractual instead of company law principles. It is widely recognised that the contribution in kind agreement has a close affiliation with the contract of exchange. Based…

Fusions-, Spaltungs- und Vermögensübertragungsverträge aus Sicht der Gesellschaft und der Gesellschafter

The Federal Act on Merger, Demerger, Transformation and Transfer of Assets (Merger Act) contains the minimal contents of the merger agreement, the demerger agreement and the transfer of assets agreement («the reorganisation agreement»). In addition, the Merger Act regulates which bodies of the involved companies have to give their consent to the reorganisation agreement and in which form to…

Der Aktionärbindungsvertrag: Einfache Gesellschaft oder Innominatvertrag?

The present article shows that shareholders agreements are not as of necessity general partnership agreements. As a rule they are rather innominate contracts for which the same rules apply as for nominate contracts, in particular re the questions of consensus, interpretation and amendments. In this respect the real will of the parties is relevant in the first place and only in the second place…

Vorbereitung und Durchsetzung von Aktionärsklagen: Wie kann die Informationsasymmetrie überwunden werden?

In order to improve the enforcement of directors’ liability in solvent companies, it is necessary to improve the access of shareholders to information in order to prepare a derivative suit. The Swiss company law revision project of 2016 provides such improvements by lowering the conditions under which a special audit can be appointed by the court (art. 697a seq. CO). However, the applicants…

Die Praxis der Übernahmekommission im Jahr 2016

Im Jahr 2016 setzte sich die Übernahmekommission (UEK) mit sechs öffentlichen Übernahmeangeboten auseinander, womit man nach einem in dieser Hinsicht schwachen Vorjahr wieder an das Niveau der Jahre 2013 und 2014 anknüpfen konnte. Das Gesamtvolumen der sechs im Jahr 2016 beur­teilten öffentlichen Übernahmeangebote belief sich auf bemerkenswerte CHF 46 Mrd. Rund CHF 43 Mrd. entfielen dabei…

Editorial | Éditorial

Wir leben in bewegten gesellschaftsrechtlichen Zeiten: Das Aktienrecht ist zu einem politischen Kampffeld geworden. Zwar wurde der jüngste Reform­anlauf mit dem Anspruch zur Modernisierung des …

Die Bilanzierung des Eigenkapitals im Einzelabschluss von Kapitalgesellschaften

This essay shows how the equity capital of a corporation or a limited liability company must be presented in the balance sheet pursuant to the new Swiss accounting law. The structure of the article follows the individual items of the equity capital, whereby a balance sheet prepared in Swiss francs is assumed. It has been concluded that the supposedly comprehensive accounting law provisions…

Erwerb eigener börsenkotierter Aktien

When a company buys own shares, it reimburses the paid-in capital. Before 2013 own shares were always a mixture of a profit-sharing and a purchase of an asset. In 2013 this changed completely; own shares are no longer assets and can no longer be capitalized. This decision of the legislator, that own shares are a form of profit-sharing, has various consequences: the shareholder must treated…

Ermessen und Ermessenskontrolle in Revision und Revisionsaufsicht

Judgement is of vital importance in the world of accounting and auditing. With a view to auditing, judgement is the auditor’s leeway in decision-making conferred upon by regulation and standards formulated in an open way. But the exercise of judgement is not at the auditor’s exclusive discretion; it has to be exercised with professional due care, which is conditioned by the observance of the…

Art. 704 OR und Minderheitenschutz: Eine aktienrechtliche ­Kurvendiskussion

Majority requirements for shareholder resolutions are an important element of minority protection in corporate law. Swiss learned writing ascribes such minority protecting effect to article 704(1) of the Code of Obligations (CO), which requires certain important shareholder resolutions to be taken by a supermajority of two thirds of votes represented and the absolute majority of capital represented.

Das Gesellschaftsrecht 2016/2017 / Le droit des sociétés 2016/2017

Im vergangenen Jahr stachen neben dem Fall Sika vor allem eine Reihe von Urteilen zum Verantwortlichkeitsrecht ins Auge. Diese bestätigen einerseits die klärende neuere Rechtsprechung zur Business…

Der Stichentscheid in der Generalversammlung unter dem Aspekt des Gebots der schonenden Rechtsausübung

Die Hotel A. AG in U. bezweckt hauptsächlich die ­Verwaltung des Hotels A. in Baden. Ihr Aktienkapital von CHF 500 000 ist aufgeteilt in 380 Stammaktien zu CHF 1000 und 1200 Stimmrechtsaktien zu CHF…

Kernfragen der Aktienrechtsrevision

On November 23, 2016, the Federal Council published its proposal for a revised law on companies limited by shares. This article deals with four key aspects of the proposed revision. First, it addresses the proposed amendments regar­ding the capital structure. The authors thereby focus on the rules for capital increases, decreases and the possibility to introduce a so called «capital band». Secon…

Corporate Governance auf der Blockchain

It is within the context of crypto-currencies that Blockchain first gained importance as a new technology. In the meantime, it has been recognized that this technology can also be used in the corporate environment. Such usage would have significant effects on corporate governance within companies (for example, in connection with the transparency of ownership, the handling of voting rights,…