SEB's Class C shares

To facilitate foreign ownership the Class C shares were introduced at the end of the 1980s. The trading volumes of the Class C shares are very limited and the number of Class C shares only constitutes 1.1 per cent of the share capital of the Bank. Due to this, the prerequisites for creating only one class of shares, thus giving the Class C shares the same rights as the Class A shares, have been reviewed. The review has shown that there are significant practical difficulties to implement such a structure.

According to the Swedish Companies Act, a proposal that the Class C shares should carry the same rights as the Class A shares requires that the proposal is supported by shareholders representing at least 2/3 of the votes cast and shares represented at a General Meeting of Shareholders as well as by 9/10 of the Class A shares represented at the General Meeting. Furthermore, approval from a majority of all Class A shareholders is required. The reason for this is that a resolution to this effect would lead to a certain dilution for the Class A shareholders. Since the number of shareholders in SEB is large, obtaining such approval would be a drawn-out and complicated procedure.