The Foundation fulfils its main purpose through exercising active ownership towards the Grundfos Group.
According to the Charter, the Foundation may also make donations to general non-political, scientific, humanitarian, business, environmental and social causes. The Foundation engages in philanthropic work through funding of safe water projects in developing countries, inclusion and community engagement projects, and support for research and learning.
Charter
The Charter expresses the will of the founder and guides the Board of Directors in their stewardship of his life’s work, for as long as the Foundation exists.
Charter | |
for | |
Poul Due Jensen Foundation (Grundfos Foundation)
CVR-No. 83648813 |
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1. | Name |
1.1 | The Foundation shall be named the Poul Due Jensen Foundation. The Foundation shall also carry on activities under the secondary name of the Grundfos Foundation (Poul Due Jensen’s Foundation). |
1.2 | The Foundation shall be a private foundation operating commercially. |
2. | Registered office |
2.1 |
The Foundation’s registered office and venue shall be located in Bjerringbro in Denmark. |
3. | Objective |
3.1 | The objective of the Foundation shall adhere to the order of priority specified below: |
3.1.1 | The objective of the Foundation shall be to contribute to the safeguarding and expansion of the financial foundation for the continued existence and development of a healthy, commercial and financial basis for the company created by industrialist Poul Due Jensen (Grundfos companies in various countries). The Foundation’s objective may be expanded to also cover companies which the board of directors in accordance with ordinary business-related standpoints finds reasonable to acquire either partially or wholly. |
3.1.2 | In relation to the above-mentioned, it should be the objective of the Foundation to acquire and obtain a pre-emption right for shares, respectively, in all Grundfos companies and the group enterprises, respectively. This may in certain cases necessitate changes to the Articles of Association etc. of the companies in question. |
3.1.3 | The Foundation shall have a further task of contributing to safeguarding a competent, enterprising and responsible management of Grundfos’ companies and other companies in which the Foundation may have invested. |
3.1.4 | The Foundation may make donations to general non-political, scientific, humanitarian, business, environmental and social causes. |
3.1.5 | The Foundation may, with or without security, grant loans with or without appropriate interest to persons where the Board of Directors is of the opinion that it is justifiable to provide support in connection with establishment of businesses, acquisition of property, education and training, study tours and study trips, though only in cases where the loan is viewed as being of special importance for the person in question.
It shall be emphasised that the Foundation may never:
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4. | Powers of decision regarding distributions |
4.1 | It shall not be possible for anyone, through the courts or otherwise, to raise a claim for support from the Foundation. |
4.2 | The Board of Directors shall decide how the Foundation’s funds shall be utilised; their decision is alone limited by the Foundation’s objective. |
5. | The Foundation’s assets |
5.1 | The Foundation’s funds shall be divided into basic capital and available capital. |
5.2 | The basic capital shall always, though with the exceptions discussed below, remain untouched while the available capital is for the free disposal of the Foundation in accordance with the Foundation’s objective. Interest and dividend from the basic capital shall be viewed as available capital unless otherwise especially prescribed. |
6. | Basic capital |
6.1 | The Foundation’s basic capital shall consist of:
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6.2 |
The Board of Directors may decide to transfer amounts from the basic capital to the available capital in such circumstances where the amounts cannot be covered by the Foundation’s income or the available capital. Such decisions must be made unanimously. |
7. | Available capital |
7.1 | The distributable capital shall be raised in part through the Foundation’s current income, whether interest and dividend income, together with income from business activities, and in part through inheritance or endowment for which no requirements have been made for these amounts to constitute contributed capital. |
8. | The Foundation’s Board of Directors |
A. General provisions
The Foundation’s Board of Directors shall consist of eight persons. The Board of Directors shall be self-elective. In addition, the employees of the Grundfos Group may in accordance with the Act on Commercial Foundations be entitled to representation on the Board of Directors of the foundation. The Board of Directors consists in this case of the following groups: The founder’s descendant’s et al. (Section 8B), external members of the Board of Directors (section 8C) and employee representatives (Act on Commercial Foundations).With the exception stated below, each member of the board shall be elected for a period of 4 years and may be re-elected.No person may be a member of the Board of Directors after having turned seventy years of age. Dispensation may, however, be given for a period of two years at a time, provided that a majority of the remainder of the Board of Directors vote in favour hereof.The children of the founder, Niels Due Jensen, Estrid Due Hesselholt and Ingermarie Due Nielsen, shall have the right to sit in the Foundation’s Board of Directors as long as they wish, though only until they reach the age of 70. They may, however, subsequently be re-elected for a period of two years at a time, provided that a majority of the remainder of the Board of Directors vote in favour hereof.All members of the board of directors shall have full legal capacity and may not be deprived of the right to dispose of their estate.When electing and re-electing members for the Board of Directors of the Foundation, a formal, thorough and transparent process must be adopted for the selection and nomination of candidates. In this connection, it must be assessed and determined which competencies the Board of Directors is to possess in order to manage the tasks for which the Board of Directors is responsible.At least three members of the Board of Directors shall be Danish citizens. All voting on the election of persons to the Board of Directors or for the election of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman shall, regardless of whether a wish for this is expressed, be made in writing. With the exception of the election of Chairman and Deputy Chairman, no member of the Board of Directors shall take part in an election concerning him- or herself. The rotation of elections shall be laid down by the drawing of lots at the next meeting of the Foundation following the adoption of the change to the charter. |
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B. The founder’s descendants
In accordance with the wishes of the founder, it shall be the aim to have four of his descendants on the Board of Directors.Either descendants or descendants’ spouses may be elected as members, but not both. The descendants may as alternative elect persons who are not descendants or a spouse of a descendent.Should more candidates be nominated by the founder’s descendants than there are seats up for election, the Board of Directors shall by ordinary majority vote select which of the candidates nominated are to be elected to the Board of Directors.The Board of Directors should principally select candidates with commercial insight and specialist insight into the fields in which Grundfos carries out business activities.If at an election the founder’s descendants do not nominate a candidate, the Board of Directors shall elect a member by ordinary majority vote and this member shall meet the conditions stated in category C.If the descendants omit to nominate a candidate for a vacant directorship, it will first be possible to renominate a candidate to this particular position following the end of the four-year period. |
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C. External members of the Board of Directors
Four members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors shall be elected for each four-year period. If more than one candidate is nominated at an election, the election shall be carried out by a simple majority of votes among the members of the Board of Directors of the Foundation. For directorships in this category, only persons possessing a highly qualified technical and/or financial and/or sales and/or general management background shall be nominated. Members of the Board of Directors must not be employed in the day-to-day management of the Grundfos Group. |
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9. | Board meetings |
9.1 |
The Board of Directors shall hold meetings following notice of convening with 8 days’ notice from the Chairman, who is obliged to immediately convene the board meeting if one of the other members of the board requests this. |
9.2 |
Each year within five months following the end of the financial year – though in such good time that the financial statements have been received by the foundations supervisory authority prior to the end of the five months following the end of the financial year – the annual meeting shall be held, with the following agenda:
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9.3 | At least two annual board meetings shall be held; the annual meeting shall be one of these. |
9.4 | Meetings of the Board of Directors shall be chaired by the Chairman and in his or her absence by the Deputy Chairman. |
9.5 | The Board of Directors may request members of the management of PDJF A/S and Grundfos Holding A/S to participate in a board meeting of the Foundation together with the CEO of Grundfos. |
10. | Secretariat and election of Group Board of Directors |
10.1 | For the management of the day-to-day operations of the Foundation including the secretariat task the foundation may hire a general manager and/or enter into an agreement with a company in the Grundfos Group regarding the management of these tasks. |
10.2 | Among the external members Board of Directors of the Foundation (clause 8C) at least two are elected to the Board of Directors of Grundfos Holding A/S. From among the founder’s descendants or their spouses, who hold a seat on the Foundation’s Board of Directors or other persons elected by the descendants according to clause 8B, who hold a seat on the Foundation’s Board of Directors, one member of the board is elected for a term of four years. |
10.3 | In the event of a parity of votes, the election shall be carried out by ordinary majority voting of the whole board of directors. Should parity of votes also occur, the drawing of lots shall take place. |
10.4 | In the event that none of the descendants of the founder, their spouses who hold a seat on the foundation Board of Directors or persons who the descendants have elected to the board pursuant to clause 8B, wish to run for a position as member of the Board of Directors of Grundfos Holding A/S, the Foundation Board of Directors instead elects an external member without ties to the Foundation Board of Directors. The election is for a four-year term. |
10.5 | The chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation may not also be chairman of the Board of Directors of Grundfos Holding A/S. |
10.6 | The chairman of the Board of Directors of Grundfos Holding A/S shall be a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation. |
10.7 | The board of directors of the Foundation shall procure that the Board of Directors of PDJF A/S, as holding company of the foundations ownership of Grundfos Holding A/S, is elected among the members of the Board of Directors of the Foundation from time to time, so that the Board of Directors of the company consist of the members of the Board of Directors of the Foundation. Employee elected members of the Board of Directors of the Foundation and PDJF A/S may vary. |
10.8 | The chairman of the Board of Directors of PDJF A/S shall be the same person as the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation from time to time. |
10.9 | The board of directors of the Foundation shall procure that the executive management of PDJF A/S, including the CEO, is appointed among candidates from the executive management of the Foundation from time to time. The CEO of PDJF A/S shall be the same person as the executive director of the foundation from time to time. |
11. | Voting |
11.1 | The Board of Directors shall form a quorum when 3/4 of the members eligible to participate in the decision attend the meeting and are present. For the settling of individual decisions, a member of the board may provide another member of the board with a written proxy. Voting shall take place by a simple majority of votes. In case of parity of votes, the chairman of the board shall have the deciding vote. |
12. | Changes to the charter |
12.1 | Resolutions to amend the charter shall require that at least 3/4 of the members eligible to vote and to at least two members from each of the groups of the Board of Directors eligible to participate, see clause 8A are voting in favour hereof and that the amendment is approved by the supervisory authority of the Foundation. |
12.2 | However, changes to Article 8 of the Charter on the election of the Board of Directors shall require unanimity and the approval of the supervisory authority of the Foundation. |
13. | Extraordinary dispositions |
13.1 | Resolutions on extraordinary dispositions such as the merger of companies owned by the Foundation with other companies outside of the Foundation’s ownership, or the liquidation or transfer of the controlling interest in Grundfos Holding A/S or PDJF A/S, and thus indirectly the controlling interest in Grundfos Holding A/S, shall require that at least 3/4 of the members eligible to vote and at least two members from each of the groups of the Board of Directors eligible to participate, see clause 8, are voting in favour hereof and that the resolution is approved by the supervisory authority of the Foundation, unless liquidation of PDJF A/S takes place in connection with a distribution or other transfer of all of the company’s shares in Grundfos Holding A/S to the foundation. |
14. | The work of the Board of Directors and asset management |
14.1 |
The Board of Directors shall be obliged to ensure that the Foundation’s capital is safeguarded and invested with reasonable consideration of the preservation of its value; the Board of Directors shall, however, be entitled to allow the Foundation to take ordinary business risks. It shall be specially noted that the Foundation’s funds may be placed in loans for and invested in shares in public limited companies into which the Board of Directors has insight into their conditions. Shares shall always be registered as belonging to the Foundation directly or indirectly, including through PDJF A/S. |
14.2 | Within the framework laid down, it shall be left to the discretion of the Board of Directors to make decisions on the investment of capital. The Board of Directors shall thus have a right to decide whether the investment shall be made in real property, bonds, shares, debentures, mortgages, by loans or otherwise which the Board of Directors finds to be justifiable and expedient. Any securities shall always be registered as belonging to the Foundation directly or indirectly, including through PDJF A/S and shall be retained in a custody account at a bank or at VP Securities Services. |
14.3 | The Foundation’s funds shall never be lent to the Board of Directors, the founder or other contributors. |
14.4 | At its own free discretion, the Board of Directors shall be entitled to realise one or more of the Foundation’s assets and to in- vest the proceeds otherwise in agreement with the above-named provisions. |
14.5 | Should conditions lead to the impossible operation of a group enterprise with reasonable financial advantage – viewed as an individual company and in relation to the other companies, the Foundation’s Board of Directors shall be entitled to en- sure that the company in question be disposed of in the best possible manner for the Foundation, either through liquidation, sale or otherwise. |
14.6 | Where all group enterprises cease to exist, the Board of Directors may with the approval of the foundations supervisory authority seek to have the Foundation’s funds invested in another, as far as possible, similar company, though only in as far as the Foundation at the same time attains the controlling interest or the principal interest in such company. |
14.7 | Danish interests ought to be taken into consideration in connection with the investments. |
14.8 | The Board of Directors shall represent the Foundation in every respect and oversee everything that is placed under the Foundation, look after the interests of the Foundation and ensure the compliance with this charter. |
14.9 | The Board of Directors shall have the right and obligation to provide guidance for the management in the individual companies and for the Group management. |
14.10 | The Board of Directors shall ensure that the Foundation remains the direct or indirect owner of a qualified majority in the group enterprises – as well as to ensure that a collection of funds takes place in order for the Foundation to acquire interests in new or existing affiliated companies, when these are offered for sale – and to participate in any increase of the share capital. |
14.11 | It shall be the obligation of the Board of Directors to keep a register of the Foundation. |
14.12 | Remuneration to the members of the Board of Directors must be determined in accordance with what is customary taking the nature and scope of the work into account as well as in accordance with what may be considered reasonable taking the financial position of the Foundation and the Grundfos Group into account. |
14.13 | The Board of Directors must work to ensure that PDJF A/S and other companies in the Grundfos Group are operated in accordance with the founder’s set of values:
The Board of Directors specify the set of values in an appendix to the rules of procedure of the Board of Directors. Grundfos Holding A/S must annually report on the Group companies’ compliance with the set of values. |
15. | Power to bind the company |
15.1 | The Foundation shall be bound by the joint signatures of the chairman of the Board of Directors and one member of the Board of Directors or the General Manager or by the joint signatures of two members of the board of directors and the General Manager or by the joint signatures of all members of the Board of Directors. |
16. | Financial year and auditing |
16.1 | The Foundation’s financial year shall follow the calendar year. |
16.2 | The Foundation’s financial statements shall be audited by one or more state-authorised audit firms. |
16.3 | Once the financial statements have been approved by the board of directors, they shall be submitted together with a statement on the intended application of the profit for the year to the Danish Commercial foundations supervisory au-thority and to the Confederation of Danish Industries. |
17. | The Foundation’s dissolution |
17.1 | The Foundation’s capital may never be returned to the founder or other contributors. In connection with adoption of a decision regarding the dissolution of the Foundation, the board of directors shall come to a decision on the distribution of the capital and may in this connection decide to use it for non-profit purposes. |
Last amended: 27 February, 2025