GERMANY - At the annual general meeting of car company Volkswagen (VW), shareholders, including UK’s fund manager Hermes, criticised the firm’s corporate governance.

Hermes, represented by Hans-Christoph Hirt, criticised the head of VW’s supervisory board, Ferdinand Piëch, 70, and demanded his resignation.

The UK manager of the BT pension scheme said that Piëch was mainly responsible for the lack in corporate governance.

Shareholders are concerned about Piëch’s double role as member of the VW supervisory board and co-owner in Porsche, in turn major shareholder in VW.

As for the significant rise in the share price which the car manufacturer’s management presented, Hermes pointed out that those were “created internally” by Porsche buying into VW and the ensuing “takeover fantasies”.

However, unlike last year, shareholder representation groups did not vote to abstain from taking part in the election of board members in protest. The re-election of Piëch last night was nevertheless expected to be approved as major shareholders Porsche, with 18.5%, and the German province of Lower Saxony, which owns 13.7%, were set to vote in favour.

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