Shareholder announcement
Choppies Enterprises Limited
(Registration number 2004/1681)
BSEL share code: CHOPPIES
JSE share code: CHP
ISIN: BW0000001072
(“Choppies” or the “Company”)
SHAREHOLDER ANNOUNCEMENT
Shareholders are directed to the Company’s previous announcements, the last of which was published
on 21 May 2019. Further to that announcement, shareholders are advised as follows:
A. MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA REPORTAGE
1. The board of directors of the Company (the “Board”) is disappointed to take note of the
unfortunate and intemperate comments attributed to or made by Mr Ramachandran
Ottaputhu, the suspended CEO of the Company (“Mr Ottapathu” or the “Suspended CEO”) over
the past week and a half on various social media platforms, in the Botswana press, in television
and radio interviews and by way of correspondence from him to selected shareholders.
2. The Board considers it necessary to dispel the statements by the Suspended CEO that his
suspension was as a result of disagreements with certain Board members and/or because he
had presented a report that calls for changes in governance at Board and Company level. In fact,
the decision by the Board to suspend Mr Ottapathu was as a result of an aggregation of activities
and conduct by the Suspended CEO. These will in due course be made known to shareholders,
once the various investigations referred to in previous announcements by the Company are
completed.
3. In the meantime, the Board advises shareholders that (i) the suspension was and is valid and
proper; (ii) the Suspended CEO’s rights and entitlements under Botswana law have not been
infringed and remain protected as would those of any employee of the Company; and (iii) as
the Suspended CEO remains an employee of the Company during the period of his suspension,
such rights and entitlements do not extend to unauthorised disclosures by him of confidential
information relating to the Board and the Company (which may in and of themselves form the
basis of disciplinary proceedings against him).
B. DRAFT NOTICE OF EGM
4. The Board has been made aware that a document purporting to be a draft notice of an
extraordinary general meeting (“EGM”) of shareholders of the Company (“EGM Notice”) has
apparently been sent by Mr Ottapathu (or on his behalf) in his capacity as a shareholder to
select shareholders.
5. The Board advises shareholders that it has not authorised the issuance or circulation of any such
EGM Notice.
6. Whilst Mr Ottapathu is entitled to requisition an EGM subject to meeting the requirements of
the Companies Act, formal and proper notice of such an EGM must come from the Board, which
is itself considering various options available to it to disseminate further information at the
earliest possible opportunity to shareholders, including at an EGM called by the Board of its
own volition.
7. Shareholders will be apprised of the Board’s decision in due course.
The Company’s primary listing is on the BSE and its secondary listing is on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
By Order of the Board
3 June 2019
BSEL Sponsoring Broker
AFRICAN ALLIANCE BOTSWANA LIMITED
JSE Sponsor
RAND MERCHANT BANK (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited)
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