4 questions lodged at 2026 ClearView (CVW) scheme meeting
July 27, 2026
Below is the text of the 4 written questions submitted at the 25 minute ClearView (CVW) scheme meeting held on July 27, 2026 to approve Zurich's $415m acquisition of the business which is controlled by private equity firm Crescent Capital. The 65c-per share offer was announced on February 24. See 168 page scheme implementation agreement. The hybrid scheme meeting started at 10am in Sydney (L15, 20 Bond St) and via the Computershare platform. Own 10 shares. They've been calling me ahead of the vote, needing a headcount majority. Voted against via Computershare on July 24. Market cap was $405m on scheme meeting day. The proxies were not disclosed early in the formal addresses but it was comfortably approved on both metrics. Was the only shareholder asking questions.
Q1. Australia is currently in the midst of an unprecedented deluge of takeovers that has contributed to listed entities on the ASX dropping by 11% since January 2023 to 2,042 on June 30, 2026. There were a record 27 major takeovers above $100m completed in 2024-25 and this rose to 30 in 2025-26. Why do the chair and CEO believe this is happening? There is a clear mis-pricing between public markets and private markets but is there also a problem with the scrutiny and extra regulation of smaller ASX listed companies, which don't benefit from index investing? Does the chair agree this is a problem for the nation, particularly with so few new floats replenishing the ASX ranks?
Answer: Company secretary Judilyn Beaumont needlessly edited down this question and chair Geoff Black offered no meaningful response. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Q2. Why didn't you disclose the proxy position to the ASX along with the formal addresses to allow for a more fully informed debate and what sort of solicitation campaign did you run to get out the vote? I received a number of phone calls. What percentage of the register ended up voting by proxy and were you happy with this number?
Answer: Clearview failed to disclose the proxies early, butchered this question and then chair Geoff Black wasn't even able to answer it even though the data had been flashed up 5 minutes earlier showing 98% support on the share metric and 91.5% on the headcount metric with 239 shareholders voting in favour and just 22 against (I was one of them). They chair just needed to say: "we were very pleased with the strong support on both metrics and after a telephone campaign to shareholders, we managed to achieve a turnout of more than 10% which is better than many schemes". It's not hard. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Q3. Last year's annual report disclosed that non-executive directors were paid about $830,000 in 2024-25. ClearView won't be publishing another annual report so we'll never know how much the directors were paid in 2025-26. Could the chair comment on where that figure is likely to land in 2025-26 and whether the directors have paid themselves any exertion payments given all the hard work they've put in to get this deal done? Also, what is the current shareholder approved fee cap and how much of this is likely to be utilised in the 2026-27 financial year up until the deal closes?
Answer: Company secretary Judilyn Beaumont edited down this question a little bit but it was good to hear chair Geoff Black respond by saying no exertion payments were made and the board fees remained the same in 2025-26. They didn't do an Andrew Demetriou at Capitol Health. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Q4. Thank you for offering a best practice hybrid scheme meeting via the excellent Computershare platform. Given that we have 2,230 shareholders but less than 5% of them will be watching this hybrid meeting live, will the chair undertake to publish a full copy of the webcast archive on our website up until the deal closes so that shareholders who weren't able to tune in live are able to catch up on the full scheme meeting debate?
Answer: The chair said he thought this was their practice and company secretary Judilyn Beaumont confirmed it, so we look forward to seeing it. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
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