Steadfast took a major step towards becoming a public listed company on Saturday when shareholders of the broker group voted in favour of crucial structural changes.

Only 7% of the 82% of Steadfast members present at its pre-convention meeting on the Gold Coast voted against proceeding with the changes needed to move the organisation to a viable Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed entity.

“It was a resoundingly positive vote,” Executive Chairman Robert Kelly told insuranceNEWS.com.au in an exclusive interview yesterday.

“We will now compile an information memorandum for the shareholders and then call an extraordinary general meeting, probably in May, to vote whether to turn the Steadfast unlisted company into a listed entity.”

The EGM will require agreement from 75% of Steadfast shareholders to proceed with the public listing project, which has been cautiously progressed by the company’s board over the past few years.

Mr Kelly says the Steadfast board “went back to first principles” in the past year when discussing alternative ways to transform the company. “What we want is a situation where it’s business as usual under a different operating entity.

“We decided the most important thing was to protect the shareholders of Steadfast at all costs. That will remain our over-riding consideration.”

Shareholders were presented with a complex hypothetical formula that is intended to ensure they retain control of their own companies within a listed organisation.

“Simply, we put to the shareholders that this is the time to move and this is the move.”

Mr Kelly says a number of advisory firms have made submissions on ways they would help the company to mount a public float, and the board will select one if the vote at the EGM is in favour of moving in that direction.

“We’re very happy with the quality of the submissions,” he said.

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