Hong Kong Shareholder Meeting To Discuss HSBC Asia Spin-off And Dividend Plans

The demand of an activist Hong Kong investor for HSBC Holdings PLC to spin off its Asia business and boost dividend payouts will be on display as the London-based bank meets with shareholders in its largest market.

Hundreds of the Asia-focused lender's individual investors are expected to attend the so-called informal shareholders meeting with Chairman Mark Tucker and Chief Executive Noel Quinn in an exhibition hall in the Kowloon Bay area.

The meeting, which will take place ahead of HSBC's main annual general meeting on May 5 in the British city of Birmingham, will cover the bank's 2022 results as well as "other matters of interest," according to a notice to shareholders last month.

This year's Hong Kong meeting takes place against the background of Ken Lui, an individual HSBC shareholder and leader of a Hong Kong-based investor group, asking for the bank to be broken up.

According to a letter sent to HSBC on Feb. 20, Lui, who operates an education business in Hong Kong and claims to be a long-term HSBC investor, is one of at least 100 investors asking for such a vote in the main May shareholders meeting.

His second proposed resolution would require HSBC to restore pre-COVID-19 dividend amounts of at least 51 US cents per share annually, up from 32 US cents in 2022.

According to his spokesperson, Lui, the head of the activist investor coalition "Spin-Off HSBC Asia Concern Group," will attend the shareholders' meeting in Hong Kong and speak to the media.

"The Board recommends that all shareholders vote against these two resolutions because they are not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders," an HSBC spokesperson said ahead of the meeting.

"We continue to believe that our current strategy is the quickest, safest, and most value-added way to deliver returns."

The Hong Kong investor's proposals echo calls by the bank's largest shareholder, Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd, to demerge its Asian division, which accounts for bulk of its revenue and profit.