A ACN tem duas classes de common stocks, A e X, ambas representando um voto nas decisões submetidas aos shareholders. A ação negociada na NYSE é a Class A.
Segundo a empresa, durante sua transição para uma estrutura corporativa (o post "Informações sobre a empresa" conta um pouco dessa história), alguns parceiros, por algum motivo qualquer, ao invés de receber ações da Accenture plc, receberam ações de subsidiárias.
Assim, para "dar voz" a esses parceiros, eles receberam ações Class X da Accenture, que dão direito a voto mas não dão nenhum direito econômico (p.ex., não recebem dividendos, nem nenhum valor em caso de liquidação da empresa). Essa ação Class X é meio que uma "PN ao contrário", sei lá.
Nesse caso específico, a priori não vejo essas duas classes de ON como um problema de governança.
(informações mais detalhadas abaixo)
History
Prior to our transition to a corporate structure in fiscal 2001, we operated as a series of related partnerships and corporations under the control of our partners. In connection with our transition to a corporate structure, our partners generally exchanged all of their interests in these partnerships and corporations for Accenture Ltd Class A common shares or, in the case of partners in certain countries, Class I common shares of Accenture SCA, a Luxembourg partnership limited by shares and direct subsidiary of Accenture Ltd (“Accenture SCA”), or exchangeable shares issued by Accenture Canada Holdings Inc., an indirect subsidiary of Accenture SCA. Generally, partners who received Accenture SCA Class I common shares or Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. exchangeable shares also received a corresponding number of Accenture Ltd Class X common shares, which entitled their holders to vote at Accenture Ltd shareholder meetings but did not carry any economic rights. The combination of the Accenture Ltd Class X common shares and the Accenture SCA Class I common shares or Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. exchangeable shares gave these partners substantially similar economic and governance rights as holders of Accenture Ltd Class A common shares.
Accenture plc Class A and Class X Ordinary Shares
Each Class A ordinary share and each Class X ordinary share of Accenture plc entitles its holder to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of shareholders of Accenture plc. A Class X ordinary share does not, however, entitle its holder to receive dividends or to receive payments upon a liquidation of Accenture plc. As described above under “—History,” Class X ordinary shares generally provide the holders of Accenture Holdings plc ordinary shares and Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. exchangeable shares with a vote at Accenture plc shareholder meetings that is equivalent to the voting rights held by Accenture plc Class A ordinary shareholders, while their economic rights consist of interests in Accenture Holdings plc ordinary shares or in Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. exchangeable shares.
Under its memorandum and articles of association, Accenture plc may redeem, at its option, any Class X ordinary share for a redemption price equal to the nominal value of the Class X ordinary share, or $0.0000225 per share. Accenture plc, as successor to Accenture Ltd, has separately agreed with the original holders of Accenture Holdings plc ordinary shares and Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. exchangeable shares not to redeem any Class X ordinary share of such holder if the redemption would reduce the number of Class X ordinary shares held by that holder to a number that is less than the number of Accenture Holdings plc ordinary shares or Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. exchangeable shares owned by that holder. Accenture plc will redeem Class X ordinary shares upon the redemption or exchange of Accenture Holdings plc ordinary shares and Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. exchangeable shares so that the aggregate number of Class X ordinary shares outstanding at any time does not exceed the aggregate number of Accenture Holdings plc ordinary shares and Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. exchangeable shares outstanding. Class X ordinary shares are not transferable without the consent of Accenture plc.
The number of shares of the registrant’s Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0000225 per share, outstanding as of October 12, 2017 was
639,452,499 (which number includes 24,734,683 issued shares held by the registrant). The number of shares of the registrant’s Class X ordinary
shares, par value $0.0000225 per share, outstanding as of October 12, 2017 was 20,506,404.
(Fonte: 2017 Annual Report/Form 10-K)
