Piet Mouton, the CEO of PSG, believes the Steinhoff scandal contributed to the shareholder revolt his company faced at its AGM last week. Shareholders of the Stellenbosch-based investment company voted against the reappointment of its longtime auditor PwC auditor PwC and opposed the re-election of long-standing nonexecutive directors, citing concerns about their independence. There was also a doubling of the vote against PSG's remuneration policy from last year. Mouton says Steinhoff has put shareholders on edge. "It has been a massive blow to confidence in South African corporates," he says, and this "contributed significantly" to what happened at the AGM. "Shareholders are more sensitive than before Steinhoff, and that has got to have a bearing." He says Steinhoff and the King 4 codes of corporate governance which came out 18 months ago have exacerbated a "tick-box approach" to corporate governance which is about form over substance.Audit rotation, which will be mandatory from 202...
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