The members of the Kansas City Board of Trade in a special election held on June 24 approved raising the limit on the number shares any one person or company may own. The Board of Directors approved the amendments at their regularly scheduled meeting on May 27.
No person (i.e., individual, corporation, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust or unincorporated association) or an associate of any person as defined herein may own directly, indirectly or through an affiliate more than 20 percent of all issued and outstanding Class AA shares of common stock in the Corporation. Any person owning more than 15 shares of Class AA common stock shall, by proxy, assign their voting rights in all such excess shares (up to the maximum 20 percent) to the Board of Directors to vote with the Board on any matters put to a shareholder vote.
There are 192 Class AA shares.
The rule change enables a shareholder to accumulate additional shares in the corporation while avoiding the concerns associated with concentration and control of shares.
The amendment is effective on Monday, June 30, 2008 and has been submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.