24 Heures, page link not available, Fre - Ulrich Grete, president of the AVS and AI, Switzerland's social security system, has broken a taboo to tell Cash TV he will vote against Peter Brabeck as president of the board of Nestlé. Of the AVS's SFr4 million in funds, 35% are invested in shares, the bulk of them in Swiss companies. As a rule, the AVS, one of the largest investors in Swiss companies, keeps its vote private.
Nestlé's annual general meeting 19 April promises a heated debate, with Grete following in the shoes of Ethos, the shareholders' rights group. Ethos obtained a promise from Brabeck two years ago that the company would find a new chairman of the board. Ethos has been fighting against one person holding both the executive and administrative top jobs in companies, which Brabeck does at Nestlé. Grete told Cash that "it's unacceptable that after two years we still don't know the name of the person who will replace Mr Brabeck." 24 Heures reports that Nestlé's head of communications, François-Xavier Perroud, says Brabeck will announce his successor as head of the board this autumn and he will step down at the 2008 annual general meeting.