Novartis shareholders ‘should approve board proposals’

Shareholders in Novartis have been advised to approve all the proposals of its board of directors at its forthcoming annual general meeting. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a proxy advisory firm, has issued a report with this recommendation ahead of the meeting scheduled for March 6th 2007.

The ISS report backs board proposals for a 17 per cent increase in dividend payment for 2006, alongside a discharge of the senior management and board.

Additionally, the report favours plans to re-elect Dr Daniel Vasella and Hans-Hoerg Rudloff to the board of directors and to newly appoint Marjorie Yang. Calls to accept the financial statements for the last fiscal year were also backed by ISS.

It has been proposed that Ms Yang, chairman and chief executive officer of Edquel, be appointed to the board on January 1st 2008 for a term ending in 2010.

The report states: “The board’s audit and compensation committees are fully independent…they do not include any executive or non-independent non-executive directors.”

It added that the nominating committee for the firm is made up of a majority of independent non-executive directors, with these cases showing that the firm surpasses standards of best practice for Switzerland.

Earlier this week, Novartis announced that it was assured of the safety and efficacy of Galvus and committed to making the compound available to patients with type two diabetes.