Cxense ASA made history this month, as the first Norwegian listed organization to hold a hybrid AGM – where shareholders could attend the meeting in person, or join remotely online.
Administered by DNB Bank ASA, and powered by Lumi, the AGM had more than twice as many shareholders attending online as they did in person, at the meeting.
The AGM was audio-cast in real-time, with the Lumi platform managing the voting from both the in-the-room attendees as well as those voting online. The votes were combined with the proxy votes that had already been received, and the results presented instantly.
There has been much discussion and debate around the rise of both hybrid and virtual AGMs, and the rate of adoption has accelerated significantly in the last 12 months. With the increasingly global diversity of the shareholder base, hybrid meetings are becoming a big part of the evolving AGM marketplace, allowing organizations to interact with their local, national and international audiences.
Across the globe, shareholder engagement remains a core topic with many issuers seeing the opportunity to offer remote AGM participation alongside an in-room shareholder meeting as a key tool to achieve this.
Hallvard Brattli, Head of Registrars Department at DNB, commented “It’s clear that Norwegian issuers and shareholders are getting more and more ready to embrace hybrid technology, as the market becomes more focussed on the new technology, and the benefits that follow. We were delighted to support Cxense as they became the first listed company to host a hybrid AGM in Norway. DNB, as a bank, is very focussed on delivering self-service solutions to all our clients, and being at the forefront of bringing new technology to the market”