Wärtsilä had approximately 39,200 shareholders at the end of the financial period 2015. Foreign shareholding, including nominee-registered shares, represented 52% (48) at the end of the period, and Finnish retail investors held 19% of the share capital (20). The largest shareholder was Investor AB with 33,866,544 shares or 17% of the share capital.
Further information concerning shareholder base development can be found on the Wärtsilä IR pages at www.wartsila.com/investors.
Changes in ownership – flagging notifications
During 2015, Wärtsilä was informed of the following changes in ownership:
On 10 September, BlackRock, Inc. increased its holding in Wärtsilä to more than one twentieth (1/20) of the Company’s votes. Following the transaction BlackRock, Inc. owned 10,019,838 shares or 5.08% of Wärtsilä’s share capital and total votes.
Management holdings
The members of the Board of Directors, the CEO, the CEO's deputy, and the corporations under their control, owned altogether 60,219 Wärtsilä Corporation shares at the end of 2015, which represents 0.03% of the stock and voting rights.
Further details on the Board of Directors' ownership of shares can be found in the Corporate Governance section.
Authorisations granted to the Board of Directors
The Annual General Meeting, held on 5 March 2015, authorised the Board of Directors to resolve to repurchase a maximum of 19,000,000 of the Company's own shares. The authorisation to repurchase the Company’s own shares shall be valid until the close of the next Annual General Meeting, however no longer than for 18 months from the authorisation.
The Board of Directors was authorised to resolve to distribute a maximum of 19,000,000 of the Company’s own shares. The authorisation for the Board of Directors to distribute the Company’s own shares shall be valid for three years from the authorisation of the shareholders’ meeting and it cancels the authorisation given by the General Meeting on 6 March 2014. The Board of Directors is authorised to resolve to whom and in which order the Company’s own shares will be distributed. The Board of Directors is authorised to decide on the distribution of the Company’s own shares other than in proportion to the existing pre-emptive right of the shareholders to purchase the Company’s own shares.
The Board of Directors' dividend proposal
The Board of Directors proposes that a dividend of 1.20 euro per share shall be distributed for the financial period that ended on 31 December 2015.