3  Board of Directors

3.1  Members of the Board of Directors

Under the articles of association, the Board of Directors of Allreal Holding AG consists of one or more members. It currently has seven members. On 6 December 2019, Peter Mettler stood down as a member of the Board of Directors with immediate effect. For the current composition of the Board and information on individual Board members, refer to pages 20 and 21 of the Annual Report. None of the Board members perform executive duties in the company and none have performed operational management functions within Allreal in the past.

The Helvetia Group, which holds 10.6 percent of Allreal Holding AG's share capital, is represented on the Board of Directors of Allreal Holding AG by Philipp Gmür. Allreal works for Helvetia as a general contractor for the realisation of construction projects. These services are provided at arm's length. During the period under review, the volume of project work completed for the Helvetia Group amounted to CHF 21.3 million. In addition, insurance contracts are in place between the Helvetia Group and individual Allreal companies which have an annual premium volume of CHF 1.3 million (policies covering buildings, construction and personnel).

Allreal obtains legal consulting services from several law firms, including Meyerlustenberger Lachenal AG, in which Andrea Sieber is a partner. In the 2019 financial year, Allreal was charged fees amounting to CHF 0.055 million.

Meyerlustenberger Lachenal AG is a tenant of office space in the commercial property at Schiffbaustrasse 2 in Zurich at arm's length conditions and an annual rental volume of CHF 0.94 million.

There are no other business relationships between Allreal and members of the Board of Directors.

3.2  Other activities and vested interests

For details of other work and functions performed by individual members of the Board of Directors outside Allreal see pages 20 and 21 of the Annual Report.

3.3  Articles of association provisions relating to the number of permissible activities

Each member of the Board of Directors may hold a maximum of 15 remunerated mandates outside Allreal, not more than five of which may be mandates with publicly owned companies.

3.4  Elections and terms of office

The members of the Board of Directors, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the members of the Nomination and Compensation Committee are elected individually on an annual basis by the general meeting. Re-election is permitted. The age limit is 70.

Ralph-Thomas Honegger was first elected to the Board of Directors in 2012, Olivier Steimer and Peter Spuhler in 2013, Andrea Sieber and Thomas Stenz in 2016, and Philipp Gmür and Jürg Stöckli in 2019.

3.5  Internal organisational structure

The general meeting of 12 April 2019 elected Ralph-Thomas Honegger as Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors constitutes itself and has appointed Andrea Sieber to serve as its Vice Chairwoman. The function of Board Delegate does not exist.

The Board of Directors has a quorum if at least half of its members are present. It passes its resolutions with the majority of the votes cast; the Chairman has a casting vote.

The Board of Directors held four ordinary meetings in the 2019 financial year, each lasting between three and five hours. Two meetings were attended by all Board members for the full duration of the meetings, while at each of two meetings one member was absent. These meetings are also attended by members of Group Management for specific agenda items, and by the CEO for the full duration of the meeting. The Board of Directors also passed resolutions on a number of individual business transactions by circular letter and, in one instance, by telephone conference.

The following key points were addressed at the Board meetings held in 2019:

  • Review, ongoing development, and approval of corporate strategy, medium-term planning for the period from 2020 to 2022 and the annual budget for 2020
  • Review and confirmation of policy on dividends and distributions to shareholders
  • Discussion and approval of the financial statements for each quarter (including liquidity status, debt financing and pending legal disputes), of the variance analysis versus the 2019 budget and of the forecast calculation for 2019 as a whole
  • Examination and approval of applications relating to the purchase of an investment property, the sale of an investment property and the acquisition of several development properties as well as major investment projects of the two divisions
  • Assessment of opportunities and risks of major own projects (development real estate, and investment real estate under construction) and of important global solution competitions
  • Discussion of the transaction and rental market and the vacancy situation at individual investment properties, taking note of appropriate marketing measures
  • Assessment of various scenarios and sensitivity analyses conducted on the investment real estate portfolio and for the entire Allreal Group
  • Discussion of the direction of the Projects & Development division as well as the related short- and medium-term capacity utilisation and the development of work in progress
  • Deliberation on the risks and profitability of individual projects in the Projects
  • Discussion and assessment of financing management (interest lock-in periods and credit facilities)
  • Deliberation and resolution on the issue of a bond
  • Discussion of the application of various accounting standards and the possible related effects on the consolidated financial statements of Allreal Group
  • Monitoring of and compliance with the investment and financing guidelines
  • Approval of the half-yearly external financial reporting including media releases
  • Approval of the proposals of the Risk and Audit Committee and the Nomination and Compensation Committee (including remuneration)
  • Discussion of personnel developments within the Board of Directors
  • Deliberation on the documentation of risk management and the continued development of this area
  • Development of the share price and the shareholder structure in relation to compliance with "Lex Koller" requirements
  • Discussion and approval of the agenda items to be proposed to the annual general meeting on 12 April 2019

The Chairman of the Board of Directors assumes special tasks in his capacity as the liaison with the CEO. Performing these tasks involves several meetings and frequent telephone contact.

3.6  Board committees

With a view to integrating the specialist expertise and experience of individual Board members into the decision-making process and enabling the Board to produce reports as part of its supervisory duties, the Board of Directors formed two committees as provided for in the organisational regulations. The duties and powers assigned to the Board of Directors in accordance with the organisational regulations and the law remain vested in the full Board of Directors, i.e. the two Committees have no decision-making powers. The Chairmen of the Committees inform the full Board of Directors of the key findings of the Committee meetings and/or present the resulting proposals.

The organisational regulations (in German only) of Allreal Holding AG can be accessed on the Allreal website: www.allreal.ch/nc/investoren/corporate-governance/statutenprotokolle

Risk and Audit Committee

The Risk and Audit Committee supports the Board in supervising accounting and financial reporting, the auditors and the external real estate valuer and in monitoring compliance with legal requirements.

The tasks include reviewing the structuring of the accounting system in terms of appropriateness, reliability and effectiveness, reviewing the annual financial statements and the other financial information to be published, monitoring corporate risk assessment and reviewing risk management practices and/or the effectiveness and efficiency of the internal control system (ICS) and periodic reviewing of the insurance cover available to Allreal. The Risk and Audit Committee is also responsible for monitoring business activity for compliance with decisions of the Board of Directors, with internal regulations and guidelines, with corporate policy principles and with relevant legal requirements, in particular those arising from the Stock Exchange Act.

In addition, the Risk and Audit Committee reviews the performance, independence and compensation of the auditors and the external real estate valuer. This includes in particular examining the compatibility of the auditing activities with any consultancy mandates and reviewing overall remuneration. The review reports and the resulting findings and recommendations are discussed in detail with Group Management and the external auditors and consequent measures are formulated. Implementation of these measures is overseen by the Risk and Audit Committee.

The tasks, duties, and powers of the Risk and Audit Committee are defined in the organisational regulations of 2 December 2014. The full Board of Directors is informed of the activities of the Risk and Audit Committee by the latter's Chairman at the next Board meeting and decides on any resulting proposals.

The Risk and Audit Committee is made up of Thomas Stenz (Chairman), Olivier Steimer (member) and Jürg Stöckli (member). Meetings are attended by the CFO.

In 2019, the Risk and Audit Committee held two meetings, each of which lasted two and a half hours. The main focus was on reviewing the 2018 annual financial statement and the 2019 half-yearly financial statement in relation to the above-mentioned tasks. In addition, cooperation with the external auditors and the operational management was assessed in detail. Both meetings were attended by all Committee members for the full duration. Representatives of the external auditors, the external real estate valuer and the internal auditors were present for individual items on the agenda.

Nomination and Compensation Committee

The Nomination and Compensation Committee supports the Board of Directors with regard to the selection, compensation and training of the members of the Board of Directors and Group Management.

Its tasks include managing the selection process for members of the Board of Directors and Group Management and the resulting submission of proposals to the full Board of Directors. In respect of Group Management, this also extends to the submission of proposals relating to the key conditions of their contracts of employment.

Its other tasks include succession planning at the most senior level of management, monitoring management training and reviewing and proposing the salary policy suggested by the CEO for the attention of the full Board of Directors.

The tasks, duties and powers of the Nomination and Compensation Committee are defined in the articles of association and in the organisational regulations of 2 December 2014. The Chairwoman of the Nomination and Compensation Committee briefs the full Board of Directors on the Committee's activities. The Board decides on the resulting proposals. The Committee does not have any decision-making powers.

The annual general meeting appointed Andrea Sieber (Chairwoman), Philipp Gmür (member) and Peter Spuhler (member) to the Nomination and Compensation Committee. The meetings are normally attended by the CEO.

In 2019, the Nomination and Compensation Committee held two meetings, which the CEO also participated in. Both one-hour meetings were attended by all Committee members for the full duration. These meetings were essentially concerned with personal particulars regarding Group Management, with wage policy for the entire company, as well as with remuneration of the members of the Board of Directors and Group Management. The Nomination and Compensation Committee conducted interviews in connection with the recruitment of a new member of Group Management. External advisors were called to assist with the selection process. The Committee submitted its proposals regarding these issues to the Board of Directors.

3.7  Definition of areas of responsibility

The principles governing the most senior level of management and the delineation of powers and responsibilities are defined in the organisational regulations of 2 December 2014. While the Board of Directors performs the tasks of supervisory and steering body, Group Management is in charge of the operational business.

At the same time, under the articles of association and the organisational regulations, in particular the following powers and responsibilities are vested in the Board of Directors:

  • Ultimate direction of the Allreal Group and ultimate oversight of the persons entrusted with management (compliance)
  • Defining the organisation and appointment of management and persons authorised to act as proxies
  • Determining the organisation of and procedures for accounting, financial controlling and financial planning
  • Producing the annual report and annual financial statements, preparing the general meeting and implementing its resolutions
  • Defining business policy, including in particular investment and financial policy
  • Decisions on major transactions, including in particular investments and divestments

All other tasks are delegated to Group Management. In particular, the latter also prepares the following for approval by the Board of Directors: medium-term planning over a period of three years, the annual budget and financial statements and proposals for investments or divestments. It conducts operational business.

Allreal has internal auditors, who report directly to the Risk and Audit Committee half-yearly. Allreal staff conduct regular reviews in order to verify property accounts prepared by external property management companies.

3.8  Information and control instruments vis-à-vis Group Management

In particular, the Board of Directors has the following supervisory and control instruments at its disposal:

  • Comparative calculation of the annual budget for medium-term planning and corresponding variance analysis (annually)
  • Reporting on the functioning and effectiveness of the internal control system (ICS) for financial reporting (annually)
  • Reports on compliance with the investment and financing guidelines based on instruments of simplified liability management (quarterly)
  • Quarterly statements with presentation of the financial situation (incl. budget comparison, end-of-year forecast and corresponding variance analysis) and management reports (quarterly)
  • Balanced score card relating to Allreal Group and its divisions (quarterly)
  • Risk matrix and assessments at Group level and of specific major projects (quarterly)
  • Detailed reports from Group Management on the trend of business in the individual business areas, with lists of the investments and divestments made (management information system/quarterly)