Opus International Consultants has bowed to pressure from the Shareholders Association by voluntarily giving smaller shareholders extra voting rights.
At the annual shareholders' meeting in April, the association accused the engineering firm of overriding minority shareholders by removing the need to get investor approval if it wanted to further develop a joint venture with a related firm, Opus International Berhad.
Opus now says it will seek the approval of minority shareholders for any further capital payments to the joint venture which exceed 20% of its average market capitalisation.
Shareholders Association chair John Hawkins said the Opus move goes a fair way towards allaying his organisation's concerns.
Opus chair Kerry McDonald said the proposal provides a further opportunity for interested shareholders to have a say on the joint venture without unnecessarily impeding its development.
