UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
SCHEDULE 14A
Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No.)
| Filed by the Registrant ☑ | Filed by a Party other than the Registrant ☐ |
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Check the appropriate box:
| ☐ | Preliminary Proxy Statement |
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| ☐ | CONFIDENTIAL, FOR USE OF THE COMMISSION ONLY (AS PERMITTED BY RULE 14a-6(e)(2)) |
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| ☑ | Definitive Proxy Statement |
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| ☐ | Definitive Additional Materials |
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| ☐ | Soliciting Material Under Rule 14a-12 |
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ORION S.A.
(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)
(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if Other than the Registrant)
Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):
| ☐ | Fee paid previously with preliminary materials. |
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| ☐ | Fee computed on table in exhibit required by Item 25(b) per Exchange Act Rules 14a-6(i)(1) and 0-11. |
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Orion S.A.
Société Anonyme
6, Route de Trèves
L-2633 Senningerberg (Municipality of Niederanven)
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Notice of 2025 Annual General Meeting
of Shareholders
The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders will be held through private deed and convene on
Thursday, June 26, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. CET, at the registered office of the Company at:
6, Route de Trèves
L-2633 Senningerberg (Municipality of Niederanven)
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Dear Shareholders of Orion S.A.,
The board of directors (the “Board of Directors” or “Board”) of Orion S.A., a société anonyme having its registered office at 6, Route de Trèves, L-2633 Senningerberg (Municipality of Niederanven), Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register under registration number B 160558 (the “Company” or “Orion”), convened, in accordance with the provisions of article 10 of the articles of association of the Company, an Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the “Annual General Meeting” or “General Meeting”). You are cordially invited to attend our 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, which will be held at 2:00 p.m. Central European Time (“CET”) on June 26, 2025, at the Company’s headquarters at 6, Route de Trèves, L-2633 Senningerberg (Municipality of Niederanven), Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
A Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials for the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders will be mailed to shareholders on or around May 16, 2025.
The following is the agenda of the Annual General Meeting:
| 1. | Election of the nine director nominees each for a term ending on the date of the annual general meeting of shareholders of the Company called to approve the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ending on December 31, 2025. |
| 2. | Approval of the compensation that shall be paid to the Board of Directors of the Company for the period commencing on January 1, 2025, and ending on December 31, 2025. |
| 3. | Approval, on a non-binding advisory basis, of the compensation paid to the Company’s named executive officers for 2024 (Say-on-Pay vote) as disclosed in the proxy statement. |
| • | Presentation of the management report by the Board of Directors and the reports of the independent auditor of the Company in relation to the annual accounts and the consolidated financial statements of the Company for the financial year that ended on December 31, 2024. |
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| 2025 Proxy Statement | Orion S.A. | i |
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| 4. | Approval of the annual accounts of the Company for the financial year that ended on December 31, 2024. |
| 5. | Approval of the consolidated financial statements of the Company for the financial year that ended on December 31, 2024. |
| 6. | Allocation of results of the financial year that ended on December 31, 2024, and approval of the interim dividends declared by the Company in the aggregate amount of EUR 4,476,118. |
| 7. | Discharge of the members of the Board of Directors of the Company for the performance of their mandates during the financial year that ended on December 31, 2024. |
| 8. | Discharge of the independent auditor of the Company, Ernst & Young, Luxembourg, Société anonyme – Cabinet de revision agréé for the financial year that ended on December 31, 2024. |
| 9. | Appointment of Ernst & Young, Luxembourg, Société anonyme – Cabinet de revision agréé, to be the Company’s independent auditor (Réviseur d’Entreprises) (i) for all statutory accounts required by Luxembourg law for the financial year ending on December 31, 2025, and (ii) for any assurance of the non-financial/sustainability information disclosed for the financial year ending on December 31, 2025. |
| 10. | Ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP to be the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for all matters not required by Luxembourg law for the financial year ending on December 31, 2025. |
| 11. | Renewal of the authorization to the Board of Directors of the Company to purchase shares of the Company in the name and on behalf of the Company for a period of five years in accordance with article 430-15 of the Luxembourg law of 10 August 1915 governing commercial companies, as amended and any other applicable laws and regulations. |
Procedures for Voting and Attendance for the General Meeting
The Company urges each shareholder to cast its vote at the General Meeting by completing, signing, dating and returning the respective proxy made available by the Company for use at the General Meeting in accordance with the instructions below.
Only holders of record of the Company’s common shares (the “Common Shares”) outstanding on April 24, 2025, at 11:59 P.M. CET (the “Record Date”) are entitled to attend and vote at the General Meeting.
As of April 24, 2025, the Company had 56,319,292 Common Shares issued and outstanding. Each shareholder is entitled to one vote for each Common Share held of record by such shareholder as of the Record Date, on each matter submitted to a vote at the General Meeting. All Common Shares represented by proxy for the General Meeting duly executed and received by voting via telephone and internet until June 19, 2025, 11:59 P.M. EST (June 20, 2025 5:59 A.M. CET), and by voting via hard copy ballots until June 20, 2025, 12:00 P.M. (noon) EST (June 20, 2025 6:00 P.M. CET) (the “Voter Deadline”) will be voted at the General Meeting in accordance with the terms of the proxy. If any other item is properly added to the agenda for the General Meeting under the Company’s articles of association or Luxembourg law, proxies for such General Meeting will be voted in accordance with the best judgment of the proxyholders. Generally, only the items appearing in the convening notice and agenda for the General Meeting can be voted on at the General Meeting. Each shareholder can vote only once on each item on the agenda of the General Meeting. A shareholder may revoke a proxy for the General Meeting by (i) submitting a document revoking it prior to the Voter Deadline, (ii) submitting a duly executed proxy bearing a later date prior to the Voter Deadline, or (iii) attending the General Meeting and voting in person.
You may cast your vote at the General Meeting by marking, signing and dating the proxy card for the General Meeting and returning the proxy card in the enclosed envelope (postage within the United States paid; or in another envelope, postage to be paid), to: Equiniti Trust Company, 55 Challenger Rd, Suite 200B 2nd floor, Ridgefield Park, NJ 07660, U.S.A. Proxy cards that are mailed must be received by Equiniti Trust Company at the above address by the Voter Deadline. No postage is required for mailing of the enclosed envelope in the United States. The Company will bear the cost of soliciting proxies with respect to the matters to be voted on at the General Meeting.
Alternatively, you may also cast your vote over the Internet, at www.proxyvote.com (beneficial shareholders) or www.voteproxy.com (registered shareholders), or by telephone, by following the instructions on your proxy card or the instructions that you received by e-mail from the Company. If you plan to vote over the Internet or by telephone, your votes must be received no later than the Voter Deadline to allow sufficient time to tabulate the votes prior to the start of the General Meeting.
Shareholders may also vote in person at the General Meeting. To vote at the meeting, shareholders must present valid government- issued photo identification. If your shares are held by a bank or broker or other agent, you must also obtain and present a “legal proxy” from the holder of record to vote at the General Meeting. For specific instructions, please refer to the proxy card, notice or e-mail notification you received. Admittance of shareholders to the General Meeting and acceptance of written voting proxies will be governed by Luxembourg law.
Even if you plan to attend the General Meeting, we recommend that you vote your shares in advance of the General Meeting in one of the manners available to you so that your vote will be counted if you later are unable to attend the General Meeting.
If you hold your Common Shares through a bank, brokerage firm or other agent and do not give instructions to your bank, brokerage firm or other agent as to how your Common Shares should be voted at the General Meeting, the Common Shares that you hold through a bank, brokerage firm or other agent will not be voted at the General Meeting on Proposals 1 through 8 and Proposal 11.
| ii | Orion S.A. | 2025 Proxy Statement |
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The Company therefore urges all shareholders who hold their Common Shares through a bank, brokerage firm or other agent to promptly provide voting instructions in accordance with the procedures of their bank, brokerage firm or other agent. Your ability to vote over the Internet or by telephone depends on the voting procedures of your bank or broker or other agent.
Directors, executive officers and employees of the Company may solicit proxies in person or by mail, telephone or e-mail, but will not receive any additional compensation for these services. The Company may reimburse brokers and others for their reasonable expenses in forwarding proxy solicitation material to the beneficial owners of Common Shares. The Company may retain a proxy solicitation firm to assist in the solicitation of proxies for the General Meeting.
Each shareholder of record who holds one or more Common Shares on the Record Date will be admitted to participate and vote in the General Meeting. A holder of Common Shares held through an operator of a securities settlement system or recorded as book-entry interests in the accounts of a professional depositary who wishes to attend the General Meeting should receive from such operator or depositary a certificate certifying (i) the number of Common Shares recorded in the relevant account on the Record Date and (ii) that such Common Shares are blocked until the closing of the General Meeting. The certificate should be submitted to the Company no later than the Voter Deadline. If you plan to attend the General Meeting, you are kindly requested to notify the Company thereof in writing and provide your name, address and telephone number and any other necessary materials before the Voter Deadline by post to the registered office of the Company located at 6, Route de Trèves, L-2633 Senningerberg (Municipality of Niederanven), Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, or by e-mail to investor-relations@orioncarbons.com.
The General Meeting will also be held by live webcast, in addition to the physical location, at 2:00 p.m. CET on June 26, 2025. The dial-in information for participation in the General Meeting by live webcast will be published on our website at https://investor.orioncarbons.com/governance/Proxy-Statements/default.aspx one week prior to the date of the General Meeting. You may ask questions to the Board of Directors until 11:59 p.m. CET on June 23, 2025, by sending an e-mail to investor-relations@orioncarbons.com together with a proof of shareholding. The Board of Directors will respond at the General Meeting to questions duly submitted by shareholders. It will not be possible to raise questions and vote shares during the meeting if you participate via teleconference, and we encourage you therefore to vote your Common Shares prior to the General Meeting.
Shareholders are not entitled to preemptive rights or cumulative voting on any of the aforementioned proposals, nor are holders entitled to appraisal or dissenters’ rights for any matter being voted on at the General Meeting.
Right to Add Items to the Agenda of the General Meeting and to Table Draft Resolutions
One or more shareholders of record holding at least 10% of the outstanding Common Shares (excluding, for the avoidance of doubt, any Common Shares repurchased by the Company) may add items to the agenda of the General Meeting, provided that each such item is accompanied by a justification or a draft resolution to be adopted in the General Meeting. If you plan to add items to the agenda of the General Meeting, you must notify the Company thereof in writing and provide your name, address and telephone number by registered mail to the registered office the Company located at 6, Route de Trèves, L-2633 Senningerberg (Municipality of Niederanven), Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, or by e-mail to investor-relations@orioncarbons.com. Your request must be received by the Company no later than June 19, 2025, 11:59 p.m. CET.
Quorum/Majority
The General Meeting will deliberate validly regardless of the number of Common Shares present or represented by proxy.
Resolutions will be adopted by a simple majority of the votes validly cast at the General Meeting, regardless of the number of Common Shares present or represented by proxy.
Documents
Copies of the full and unabridged text of the documents to be submitted at the General Meeting together with draft resolutions proposed pursuant to the agenda of the General Meeting will be made available on the Company’s website or may be individually requested by you in writing by post to Orion S.A. 6, Route de Trèves, L-2633 Senningerberg (Municipality of Niederanven), Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, or by e-mail to investor-relations@orioncarbons.com.
BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Christian Eggert
Secretary of the Company
Senningerberg, April 25, 2025
| 2025 Proxy Statement | Orion S.A. | iii |
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Cautionary Statement for the Purposes of the “Safe Harbor” Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This proxy statement (the “Proxy Statement”) contains and refers to certain forward-looking statements. These statements constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements concerning the potential exposure to market risks, statements expressing management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions and statements that are not limited to statements of historical or present facts or conditions.
Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as “anticipate,” “assume,” “assure,” “believe,” “confident,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “objectives,” “outlook,” “probably,” “project,” “will,” “seek,” “target,” “to be” and other words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements about the following matters:
| • | our commercial strategy, optimal leveraging of our production assets and the expectations related thereof; |
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| • | our strategies and plans for manufacturing or otherwise; |
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| • | our expectations and targets with respect to growth and various financial metrics including free cash flow conversion and generation and capital spending; |
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| • | our innovation and investments, including with respect to decarbonization, circularity, Alpha Carbone and otherwise; |
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| • | our efforts in customer portfolio balancing and its effects on optimal leveraging of our production assets against a variety of prospective economic backdrops and demand mix scenarios; and |
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| • | our expectations on certain climate-and sustainability-related reporting obligations under the relevant laws and regulations. |
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All these forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions that, although believed to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain. Therefore, undue reliance should not be placed upon any forward-looking statements. There are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, among others:
| • | possible negative or uncertain worldwide economic conditions and developments; |
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| • | the operational risks inherent in chemicals manufacturing, including but not limited to disruptions due to technical difficulties, severe weather conditions or natural disasters; |
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| • | our dependence on major customers and suppliers; |
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| • | our ability to compete in the industries and markets in which we operate; |
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| • | our ability to successfully develop new products and technologies; |
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| • | our ability to effectively implement our business strategies; |
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| • | the volatility of costs, quality and availability of raw materials and energy; |
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| • | our ability to realize benefits from investments, joint ventures, acquisitions or alliances; |
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| • | our ability to realize benefits from planned plant capacity expansions and planned and current site development projects; |
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| • | any information technology systems failures, network disruptions and breaches of data security; |
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| • | our exposure to political or country risks inherent in doing business globally; |
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| • | rapidly changing geopolitical environment, conflicts, growing tension between U.S. and other countries, and/or any other escalations may impact energy costs, raw material availability or other economic disruptions; |
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| • | our ability to comply with complex environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, and current and any possible future investigations and enforcement actions by governmental, supranational agencies or other organizations; |
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| • | environmental, social and governance matters, including regulations requiring a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or that impose additional taxes or fees on emissions as well as increased awareness and adverse publicity about potential impacts on climate change by us; |
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| • | development regulation of carbon black as a nano-scale material; |
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| • | our operations as a company in the chemical sector, including the related risks of leaks, fires and toxic releases as well as other accidents; |
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| • | any changes in European Union regulations or similar international regulations on chemical carbon that will affect our ability to market and sell our products; |
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| • | any market or regulatory changes that may affect our ability to sell or otherwise benefit from co-generated energy; |
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| iv | Orion S.A. | 2025 Proxy Statement |
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| • | any litigation or legal proceedings, including product liability, environmental or asbestos related claims; |
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| • | our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and know-how; |
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| • | risks associated with our financial leverage; |
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| • | restrictive effects of the covenants in our debt instruments; |
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| • | any deterioration in our financial position or downgrade of our ratings by credit rating agencies; |
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| • | any fluctuations in foreign currency exchange or interest rates; |
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| • | the availability and efficiency of hedging; |
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| • | any potential impairments or write-offs of certain assets; |
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| • | any required increases in our pension fund or retirement-related contributions; |
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| • | the adequacy of our insurance coverage; |
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| • | any challenges to our decisions and assumptions in assessing and complying with our tax obligations; |
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| • | any changes in our jurisdictional earnings mix or in the tax laws or accepted interpretations of tax laws in those jurisdictions; |
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| • | the ability to pay dividends on our common stock at historical rates or at all; |
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| • | the difference between our stockholders’ rights and rights of stockholders of a U.S. corporation; |
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| • | the potential difficulty in obtaining or enforcing judgments or bringing legal actions against Orion S.A. (a Luxembourg incorporated entity) in the U.S. or elsewhere outside Luxembourg; |
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| • | the difference between Luxembourg & European insolvency and bankruptcy laws from U.S. insolvency laws; |
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| • | our relationships with our workforce, including negotiations with labor unions, strikes and work stoppages; |
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| • | our ability to recruit or retain key management and personnel; |
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| • | any disruptive changes in international and local economic conditions, dislocations in credit and capital markets and inflation or deflation; and |
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| • | our ability to generate the funds required to service our debt and finance our operations. |
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It is not possible for our management to predict all risk factors and uncertainties, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. For further information regarding factors that could affect our business and financial results and the related forward-looking statements, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of the Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 20, 2025.
| 2025 Proxy Statement | Orion S.A. | v |
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Your Vote is Important
Instructions for submitting your proxy are provided in the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials, the Proxy Statement and the proxy card. It is important that your Common Shares be represented and voted at the General Meeting. Please submit your proxy via the Internet, telephone or via mail. If you chose to submit your proxy by mail, please complete and return the hardcopy proxy card to the address provided on the return envelope. You may revoke your proxy at any time prior to its exercise at the General Meeting. Please do not return the hardcopy proxy card to the address provided on the return envelope if you are voting through the Internet or by telephone or plan to vote in person at the General Meeting in Luxembourg.
Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the General Meeting to be held on June 26, 2025:
Information and materials concerning the General Meeting are available in the Investor Relations section of our website at https://investor.orioncarbons.com/governance/Proxy-Statements/default.aspx. The information and materials available online are comprised of:
| • | Convening Notice of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders |
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| • | Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (as amended) |
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| • | Proxy card for the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders |
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| • | Annual Accounts in accordance with Luxembourg law and based on generally accepted accounting principles in Luxembourg for the financial year that ended on December 31, 2024, and Independent Auditor’s Report as of December 31, 2024 |
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| • | Consolidated Financial Statements in accordance with Luxembourg law and based on US GAAP for the financial year that ended on December 31, 2024, and Independent Auditor’s Report as of December 31, 2024 |
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| vi | Orion S.A. | 2025 Proxy Statement |
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