Ackermans & van Haaren NVFigures

Control of Ackermans & van Haaren rests on a chain of six companies running through three countries. At the top sits a Dutch foundation, Stichting Administratiekantoor "Het Torentje". Below it, Palamount SA in Luxembourg, Apodia International Holding BV in the Netherlands, Celfloor SA in Luxembourg, then Belfimas NV in Belgium, which owns 92.25% of Scaldis Invest NV, which in turn owns 33.34% of Ackermans & van Haaren. The foundation also holds 1.54% of the capital directly. Belfimas has a single purpose, to own shares in Ackermans & van Haaren directly or indirectly, and any transfer of its own securities must be approved by its board.

One share carries one vote, and nothing more. No double voting rights, no loyalty voting rights: the company's regulated page publishes 33,157,750 shares carrying voting rights for 33,157,750 voting rights. Control is therefore not control in law. With a third of the capital and no enhanced voting mechanism, Scaldis Invest does not hold an absolute majority at the general meeting. What holds is stability: a chain of holding companies whose purpose is to own this one company, an approval right at the top of that chain, and a block of one third of the capital.

For a minority shareholder, three consequences follow. The company publishes no free float, that share of the capital genuinely tradable on the market, and the figure moves by almost three points depending on what is deducted: 66.66% excluding Scaldis Invest alone, 65.12% once the foundation's direct stake is also removed, 63.68% once the shares the company holds in itself are removed as well. The board has twelve directors, all non-executive, five of them independent, and it states that it is not aware of any agreement between Ackermans & van Haaren shareholders. The nomination committee, finally, is the board itself, which departs from the 2020 Belgian governance code; the company owns that choice and explains it.

Management alignment runs through one measure, and it is precisely the one the investment doctrine pursues: 80% of short-term incentive depends on return on equity, 20% on environmental and social targets. The 2025-2028 remuneration policy was approved by 80.6% of votes at the general meeting of 26 May 2025. What the report does not publish, on the other hand, is how many shares the executives own personally: only the options granted appear.