SINGAPORE - Cordlife’s substantial shareholder Nanjing Xinjiekou Department Store said its nominee Phillip Securities will exercise its rights as a member of Cordlife – on Nanjing Xinjiekou’s instructions – to announce an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to be held on May 23.

In a May 6 letter posted to Singapore Exchange on May 8, Nanjing Xinjiekou said the EGM will be for shareholders to consider and pass its requisitioned resolutions, which had previously been included in Cordlife’s notice of its annual general meeting (AGM) dated April 29.

While the department store operator acknowledged that its requisitioned resolutions will be tabled at Cordlife’s upcoming AGM on May 14, it added that this “does not preclude (Nanjing Xinjiekou’s) rights… to nevertheless convene the EGM”.

In response, Cordlife said it is seeking legal advice on the May 6 letter, viewed in the light of Nanjing Xinjiekou’s first requisition notice dated March 13, given that the resolutions contained were already in its AGM notice.

Copies of Nanjing Xinjiekou’s EGM notice were dispatched to Cordlife’s shareholders and advertised in May 7 edition of The Business Times.

The notice contained a total of eight ordinary resolutions.

Like its resolutions to be tabled at Cordlife’s May 14 AGM, the EGM resolutions call for the removal of four directors – acting chairman Ho Choon Hou and independent directors Yeo Hwee Tiong, Titus Cheong and Joseph Wong.

Mr Wong, the company’s former chairman, stepped down in February.

Another three resolutions concern the appointment of three individuals to the board – Mr Teo Tong Kooi, Mr Xu Tianhong and Mr Cai Yong.

The final and eighth resolution calls for the removal of any other directors who may have been appointed between March 13 and the date of the upcoming EGM.

If no directors are appointed during this period, the eighth resolution will not be tabled for shareholders’ approval.

Shares of Cordlife rose 5 per cent to 12.6 cents on May 8. THE BUSINESS TIMES