NutryFarm said on Oct. 11 that it had received a letter a day earlier challenging votes that CEO Niu planned to cast at a special general meeting, according to a company disclosure.
The rights to cast these votes were granted to the CEO by the company’s largest shareholder, Jia Lijie.
The objection follows an Oct. 9 request to convene a special general meeting from a group of shareholders with a combined 10% stake, according to The Straits Times.
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Liming Niu, CEO of NutryFarm. Photo via LinkedIn/Liming Niu |
The shareholders want the meeting to remove Niu as a director and from his other positions within the group, elect shareholder Charlie In to the board, and ask directors to consider naming In CEO.
In a separate demand letter dated Oct. 9, the same shareholders called for Niu’s immediate removal from every executive position and his exclusion from board discussions and voting on the issue.
NutryFarm said it was examining the allegations in the demand letter and seeking legal advice on the letters.
The dispute comes as NutryFarm works to rebuild its business and resume trading on the Singapore Exchange mainboard. Trading has been suspended for more than four years, since April 2022.
NutryFarm previously ran nutrition and health food businesses before expanding into durian distribution.
In November 2024, the company announced that its subsidiary, Global Agricapital (Singapore), had been renamed AI Nova and was exploring technical testing and analysis services for data centers.
The announcement also revealed an a SGD5 million (US$3.9 million) loan from Singapore investment company Alpha Hill.
Although CEO Niu directly owns only 0.26% of the company, he has direct and deemed interest totaled 25.72% of NutryFarm. This includes the 15.78% stake of Jia, the largest shareholder.
Niu said earlier that he was NutryFarm’s largest creditor at a time when the company had no cash and struggled to retain control of overseas subsidiaries.