Mar 06, 2014 (LBO) - Voting rights of
employee share ownership plans (ESOPs) will have to go to the workers
themselves from 2015 under new rules, a top capital market regulatory
official said.
SEC officer in charge Dhammika Perera said the regulator did
not want to micro-manage ESOPs or say how shares should be allocated as
long as the true beneficiaries were shareholders.
"Any share option scheme should be in existence for the benefit of the
employees," Perera told a forum of information technology companies that
may be interested in listing their firms in Colombo.
"By the end of 2015, the shares which are vested with the share option schemes should be in the names of employees. The employees should have voting rights."
The rules came after some share ownership plans had undistributed shares for a long time and were seen as hidden tools to exercise control on the company by third parties such as promoters of founders.
