Battle begins in SKS board

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Hyderabad: After almost two years of a virtual exile, Dr Vikram Akula appears to be back in the reckoning at SKS Microfinance Limited — the company he founded in 1997 — as a nominee of its largest shareholder.
In a letter to SKS Microfinance Ltd, Dr Biksham Gujja, chairperson of the trustee of SKS Trusts, said, “the Trusts have urged the [SKS Microfinance] board to induct Dr Vikram Akula, its nominee, immediately. The appointment could be regularised at the ensuing annual general meeting.”
The largest shareholder claims that SKS Microfinance has not agreed to his past requests for director’s seat. A top source in SKS Trusts told this newspaper that they would not rule out taking legal recourse to get its respresentation on the SKS board.
SKS Microfinance, however, appears to have declined SKS Trusts’ earlier demands by citing its memorandum of association, which does not give any any nomination rights to shareholders. It is believed to have told SKS Trusts that directors could be appointed only at AGM as per the Companies Act.
SKS Microfinance has not yet conducted its AGM or annual shareholders meet for the financial year 2012-13.  The company has not issued any notice to stock exchanges about its AGM for the last fiscal as yet. The last AGM was held a year back on August 10, 2012.
SKS Microfinance has not responded to requests for a comment. On November 23, 2011, Dr Akula resigned from the chairmanship of the company, which he founded, after the board had allegedly threatened to remove him unceremoniously.
Dr Akula had founded SKS as a non-for-profit microfinance institution in 1997 and turned into a for-profit NBFC in 2005. It remained the fastest-growing MFI of the world till 2010, when the company was affected by the regulations brought in by the Andhra Pradesh government.
In its statement, the largest shareholder of microfinance company has also accused SKS Microfinance of deviating from “its original mission and values” and sought “to restore its past leadership and glory.”
Currently, SKS Trust Advisors Pvt Ltd — the trustee of SKS Trusts — is the largest shareholder in the Hyderabad-based micro lender with a stake of 12.6 per cent, followed by CLSA (Mauritius) Ltd 8.77 per cent.
SKS Trusts are five mutual benefit trusts whose beneficiaries are self-help groups of borrowers of SKS Micro-finance. The trusts are the original promoter shareholders of SKS Microfinance Ltd.  The sole trustee of the trusts is SKS Trust Advisors Pvt. Ltd.
A majority of stake in the company is owned by domestic and foreign institutions.
Though his style of functioning and his roadmap for the company were believed to be the reason for his ouster from SKS, Dr Gujja maintained that SKS Trusts “have nominated Vikram because he has extensive experience in microfinance and is uniquely qualified to help the company.”