Dispute between management, minority shareholder in Pepsi Bugshan Investment settled

The dispute between the minority shareholder and management in Pepsi Bugshan Investment has finally come to an end. PepsiCo Light B.V. International owns 80% of Pepsi Bugshan and a Saudi investor represented in Bugshan Saudi Arabia owns the remaining 20%. Last May, the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) requested holding a general assembly of Pepsi Bugshan, one of the PepsiCo Egypt Group companies, to review a report submitted by GAFI’s committee on the company, after disagreements took place between the board of directors and the minority shareholder. The authority’s decision came after a minority shareholder in Pepsi Bugshan Investment submitted a request to GAFI in protest of “the board of directors not returning to the general assembly” and “the budgets not being presented to the assembly.” Sources told Daily News Egypt that PepsiCo Light filed an appeal against the decision of GAFI to the court, which the court, in turn, rejected. The general assembly was held last June to vote on dismissing the board of directors of Pepsi Bugshan Investment, one of the PepsiCo Egypt companies, provided that the right to vote is limited to the minority shareholder, Bugshan. All the shareholders of Pepsi Bugshan Investment Company attended the general assembly, with a total number of shares of the company amounting to about 496,000 shares, while the shares with the right to vote amounted to about 86,279 of the total capital of the company. The sources noted that the minority shareholder who has the right to vote agreed to continue the current board of directors to end the two-year dispute with the management. The minutes of the General Assembly meeting included the two parties praising their strategic partnership, which was able to overcome unprecedented challenges in the history of the company. The General Assembly also agreed to complete the procedures for ratifying the minutes of the Ordinary Assembly meeting before the General Authority for Investment and noting its contents in the Commercial Register and the Chamber of Commerce. PepsiCo Egypt is currently negotiating with the parent company in America to pump investments into the Egyptian market, which it hopes would exceed $500m over the next four years, according to Mohamed Shelbaya, managing director of PepsiCo Egypt. Shelbaya indicated that the investments would be allocated for establishing a factory to produce chips, and another for beverages. In addition, the company will extend its contracts with farmers for new agricultural land, as well as inject some investments into the technological infrastructure.