General Meeting of Shareholders
The General Meeting of Shareholders normally convenes once a year. Under the Finnish Companies Act, certain important decisions such as the approval of financial statements, decisions on dividends and increases or decreasing of share capital, amendments to the Articles of Association, and election of the Board of Directors and auditors fall within the exclusive domain of the General Meeting of Shareholders.
The Board of Directors convenes a General Meeting of Shareholders. The Board can decide to convene a General Meeting on its own initiative, but is obliged to convene a General Meeting if the auditor or shareholders holding at least 10% of Outokumpu's shares so request. In addition, each shareholder has the right to bring a matter before a General Meeting of Shareholders that falls within the domain of the General Meeting, provided that a written request to do this has been received by the Board of Directors early enough to allow the matter to be placed on the agenda included in the notice announcing the General Meeting. According to its Articles of Association, Outokumpu has only a single class of shares and all shares have equal voting power at General Meetings of Shareholders.