Darn, I wanted to elect you and little red!!! ------------------------------------------------------------
SEC Stirs Opposition on Shareholder Move Wednesday November 28, 1:04 AM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal securities regulators appear primed to allow companies to bar shareholders from access to ballots for board elections, a move that major pension funds and governance advocates say could make corporations less responsive to investors' interests.
The shareholder rights issue is one of the most controversial to come before the Securities and Exchange Commission in recent years, generating more than 34,000 comment letters to the agency. The vacancy of a Democratic seat on the five-member panel has added to the friction. Democrat Roel Campos, who left in September, likely would have voted to adopt a proposal making it easier and cheaper for dissident shareholders to elect candidates they back to a company's board.
That proposal would allow shareholders who together own at least 5 percent of a company's stock to propose changes to the company's bylaws on elections for directors.
Proposed bylaw changes could then be voted on by all shareholders, giving stock holders the right to get their board candidates on ballots that have been paid for and distributed by companies.
As things stand now, with lone Democrat Annette Nazareth sitting on the commission, it was expected to adopt at a public meeting Wednesday a competing proposal that is closer to the status quo, allowing companies to keep off their proxies shareholder proposals related to the election of board members.
Last week, a dozen big pension funds and a government employees' union made last-ditch efforts to persuade SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, a Republican, not to proceed with the vote. Cox has said he wants new shareholder-rights rules in place before the corporate proxy season begins next spring.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, threatened to sue the SEC if the less expansive rule is adopted. The 12 pension funds — including the nation's largest, the California Public Employees' Retirement System — together own more than $300 billion worth of stock in U.S. companies. Their officials wouldn't comment on possible litigation but said the funds had sent "urgent letters" to Cox, pressing him to delay the vote until all five seats on the SEC are filled.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who heads the Senate Banking Committee, and other Democratic lawmakers have urged the SEC not to make new rules until Democratic vacancies are filled with new commissioners to be named by President Bush and approved by the Senate. In addition to Campos' departure, Nazareth plans to leave in the coming months.
"We think the SEC should go back to the drawing board," Amy Borrus, deputy director of the Council of Institutional Investors, a group representing public pension funds, said recently. "Electing directors is the main means shareholders have to ensure that a company is managed in their interest."
Under the current system, dissident investors seeking to get new directors on a company's board or to change its bylaws must wage costly proxy fights and appeal to company shareholders themselves.
In testimony to Congress earlier this month, Cox said the SEC must dispel legal uncertainty surrounding the issue. It was AFSCME, the government workers' union, that won a ruling in September in a federal appeals court, challenging the SEC's decision to allow insurance giant American International Group Inc. to bar the union's proxy-access proposal.
Senate Democrats recommended recently that Bush nominate Luis Aguilar, the former general counsel of investment management firm Invesco PLC, and Elisse Walter, who was a securities industry regulator, to fill the two Democratic slots on the SEC.
BEIJING, Nov 28, 2007 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Fuwei Films (Holdings) Co. Limited (FFHL), a manufacturer and distributor of high-quality BOPET plastic film located in China, today announced that upon its audit committee's review and approval, it has signed an engagement letter with Kabani & Company, Inc., which became the Company's new independent accounting firm effective November 22, 2007.
Ms. Cindy Lu, Fuwei Films' Chief Financial Officer, commented, "We are pleased to have engaged Kabani & Company as our new independent accountants as they have an excellent reputation for providing a broad range of dedicated services to public companies, and they have auditing experience in both the manufacturing sector and in China."
One of Kabani & Company's first tasks will be to conduct a review of the Company's 2007 third quarter financial results to ensure compliance with U.S. GAAP.
About Kabani & Company
Kabani & Company, Inc., Certified Public Accountants, is a growing public accounting and consulting firm located in Southern California. It services public and private clients of all sizes and in a variety of industries including high tech, service, hospitality, construction and manufacturing. Kabani & Company performs audits and reviews for SEC filings and works with foreign clients through its division, Kabani International, with audit services in China. The firm is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, California Society of Certified Public Accountants and is registered with Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). In 2006, Kabani & Company, Inc. was rated by "Public Accounting Report (PAR)," a national monthly newsletter in the United States, as one of America's top 30 SEC auditors and also the second fastest-growing accounting firm. For further information, please go to http://www.kabanico.com .
About Fuwei Films
Fuwei Films conducts its business through its wholly owned subsidiary Shandong Fuwei Films Co., Ltd. Shandong Fuwei develops, manufactures and distributes high-quality plastic films using the biaxial oriented stretch technique, otherwise known as BOPET film (biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate). Fuwei's BOPET film is widely used to package food, medicine, cosmetics, tobacco and alcohol, as well as in the imaging, electronics, and magnetic products industries.
This press release contains information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results described by the forward-looking statements. Risk factors that could contribute to such differences include those matters more fully disclosed in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking information provided herein represents the Company's estimates as of the date of the press release, and subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's estimates to change. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update the forward- looking information in the future. Therefore, this forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates of its future financial performance as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
The forward-looking statements included in this press release are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about our businesses and business environments. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are not a guarantee of future performance. Actual results of our operations may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors some of which are include, among other things, competition in the BOPET film industry; growth of, and risks inherent in, the BOPET film industry in China; uncertainty as to future profitability and our ability to obtain adequate financing for our planned capital expenditure requirements; uncertainty as to our ability to continuously develop new BOPET film products and keep up with changes in BOPET film technology; risks associated with possible defects and errors in our products; uncertainty as to our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights; uncertainty as to our ability to attract and retain qualified executives and personnel; and uncertainty in acquiring raw materials on time and on acceptable terms, particularly in view of the volatility in the prices of petroleum products in recent years.
For more information, please contact: In China: Christina He Investor Relations Tel: +86-10-8518-5620 Email: fuweiIR@fuweifilms.com In the U.S.: Leslie Wolf-Creutzfeldt Investor Relations The Global Consulting Group Tel: +1-646-284-9472 Email: lwolf-creutzfeldt@hfgcg.com
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