Exhibit 99.3
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.
KE Holdings Inc.
貝殼控股有限公司
(A company controlled through weighted voting rights and incorporated in the Cayman Islands
with limited liability)
(Stock Code: 2423)
(NYSE Stock Ticker: BEKE)
NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
to be held on Friday, August 12, 2022
(or any adjourned or postponed meeting thereof)
We refer to the circular (the “Circular”) of KE Holdings Inc. (the “Company”) dated June 30, 2022. Unless otherwise indicated, the capitalized terms used in this notice shall have the same meaning as those defined in the Circular.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an annual general meeting (the “AGM”) of the Company will be held at 11:00 a.m., Beijing time (or soon after the Class A Meeting and the Class B Meeting) on Friday, August 12, 2022 at Oriental Electronic Technology Building, No. 2 Chuangye Road, Haidian District, Beijing, PRC for the purposes of considering and, if thought fit, passing each of the following resolutions (the “Proposed Resolutions”):
1. | as a special resolution, THAT subject to the passing of the Class-based Resolution at the Class A Meeting and Class B Meeting, the Memorandum and Articles of Association be amended and restated by their deletion in their entirety and by the substitution in their place of the Amended Memorandum and Articles in the form as set out in Part A of Appendix I to the Circular, by incorporating the Class-Based Resolution and the Non-Class-Based Resolution and THAT the Board be authorized to deal with on behalf of the Company the relevant filing and amendments (where necessary) procedures and other related issues arising from the amendments to the Memorandum and Articles; |
2. | as a special resolution, THAT if the Class-Based Resolution is not passed at either the Class A Meeting or the Class B Meeting, the Memorandum and Articles of Association be amended and restated by their deletion in their entirety and by the substitution in their place of the Amended Memorandum and Articles in the form as set out in Part B of Appendix I to the Circular, by incorporating the Non-Class- Based Resolution and THAT the Board be authorized to deal with on behalf of the Company the relevant filing and amendments (where necessary) procedures and other related issues arising from the amendments to the Memorandum and Articles; |
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3. | as an ordinary resolution, to receive, consider, and adopt the audited consolidated financial statements of the Company as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021 and the report of the auditor thereon; |
4. | as an ordinary resolution, to re-elect the following Directors: |
(a) | (i) | to re-elect Mr. Jeffrey Zhaohui Li as a non-executive Director; |
(ii) | to re-elect Ms. Xiaohong Chen as an independent non-executive Director; and |
(b) | to authorize the Board to fix the remuneration of the Directors; |
5. | as an ordinary resolution, THAT:– |
(a) | subject to paragraph (c) below, a general unconditional mandate be and is hereby given to the Directors during the Relevant Period (as defined in paragraph (d) below) to exercise all the powers of the Company to allot, issue, and deal with additional Class A ordinary shares or securities convertible into Class A ordinary shares, or options, warrants, or similar rights to subscribe for Class A ordinary shares or such convertible securities of the Company (other than issuance of options, warrants, or similar rights to subscribe for additional Class A ordinary shares or securities convertible into Class A ordinary shares for cash consideration) and to make or grant offers, agreements, or options (including any warrants, bonds, notes, and debentures conferring any rights to subscribe for or otherwise receive Class A ordinary shares) that would or might require the exercise of such powers; |
(b) | the mandate in paragraph (a) above shall be in addition to any other authorization given to the Directors and shall authorize the Directors to make or grant offers, agreements, and/or options during the Relevant Period that would or might require the exercise of such powers after the end of the Relevant Period; |
(c) | the total number of Class A ordinary shares allotted or agreed conditionally or unconditionally to be allotted and issued (whether pursuant to options or otherwise) in paragraph (a) above, otherwise than pursuant to: |
(i) | a Rights Issue (as defined in paragraph (d) below); |
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(ii) | the grant or exercise of any options under any share option scheme of the Company or any other option scheme or similar arrangements for the time being adopted for the grant or issue to the Directors, officers, and/or employee of the Company and/or any of its subsidiaries and/or other eligible participants specified thereunder of options to subscribe for Class A ordinary shares or rights to acquire Class A ordinary shares; |
(iii) | the vesting of restricted shares and restricted share units granted or to be granted pursuant to the 2020 Plan; |
(iv) | any scrip dividend or similar arrangement providing for the allotment and issue of Shares in lieu of the whole or part of a dividend on Shares of the Company in accordance with the Memorandum and Articles of Association; and |
(v) | a specific authority granted by the Shareholders of the Company in general meeting; |
shall not exceed 20% of the total number of issued Shares of the Company as of the date of the passing of this resolution (such total number to be subject to adjustment in the case of any consolidation or subdivision of any of the Shares of the Company into a smaller or larger number of Shares of the Company respectively after the passing of this resolution) and the said mandate shall be limited accordingly; and
(d) | for the purposes of this resolution: |
“Relevant Period” means the period from the passing of this resolution until the earliest of:
(i) | the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company; |
(ii) | the expiration of the period within which the next annual general meeting of the Company is required to be held by the Memorandum and Articles of Association or any applicable laws and regulations; and |
(iii) | the date on which the authority set out in this resolution is revoked or varied by an ordinary resolution of the Shareholders in general meeting; |
“Rights Issue” means an offer of Shares of the Company, or an offer or issue of warrants, options, or other securities giving rights to subscribe for Shares of the Company, open for a period fixed by the Directors to Shareholders of the Company whose names appear on the register of members of the Company on a fixed record date in proportion to their then holdings of such Shares of the Company (subject to such exclusions or other arrangements as the Directors may deem necessary or expedient in relation to fractional entitlements or having regard to any restrictions or obligations under the laws of, or the requirements of any recognized regulatory body or any stock exchange in, any territory applicable to the Company); and
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6. | as an ordinary resolution, THAT:– |
(a) | a general unconditional mandate be and is hereby given to the Directors during the Relevant Period (as defined in paragraph (b) below) to exercise all the powers of the Company to purchase its own Shares and/or ADSs on the Stock Exchange or on any other stock exchange on which the securities of the Company are or may be listed and which is recognized by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and the HKEX for this purpose, provided that the total number of Shares and/or Shares underlying the ADSs of the Company that may be purchased pursuant to this mandate shall not exceed 10% of the total number of issued Shares of the Company as of the date of passing of this resolution (such total number to be subject to adjustment in the case of any consolidation or subdivision of any of the Shares into a smaller or larger number of Shares respectively after the passing of this resolution) and the said mandate shall be limited accordingly; and |
(b) | for the purposes of this resolution: |
“Relevant Period” means the period from the passing of this resolution until the earliest of:
(i) | the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company; |
(ii) | the expiration of the period within which the next annual general meeting of the Company is required to be held by the Memorandum and Articles of Association or any applicable laws; and |
(iii) | the date on which the authority set out in this resolution is revoked or varied by an ordinary resolution of the Shareholders in general meeting; and |
7. | as an ordinary resolution, THAT conditional upon the passing of resolutions 5 and 6 of this notice, the general mandate referred to in the resolution 5 of this notice be and is hereby extended by the addition to the aggregate number of Shares that may be allotted and issued or agreed conditionally or unconditionally to be allotted and issued by the Directors pursuant to such general mandate of the number of Shares and/or Share underlying the ADSs repurchased by the Company pursuant to the mandate referred to in the resolution 6 of this notice, provided that such amount shall not exceed 10% of the total number of issued Shares of the Company as at the date of the passing of this resolution (such total number to be subject to adjustment in the case of any consolidation or subdivision of any of the Shares into a smaller or larger number of Shares respectively after the passing of this resolution); and |
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8. | as an ordinary resolution, to re-appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor of the Company to hold office until the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company and to authorize the Board to fix their remuneration for the year ending December 31, 2022. |
Share Record Date and ADS Record Date
The Board has fixed the close of business on July 12, 2022, Hong Kong time, as the record date (the “Share Record Date”) of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Holders of record of the Company’s Shares (as of the Share Record Date) are entitled to attend and vote at the AGM and any adjourned meeting thereof.
Holders of record of ADSs as of the close of business on July 12, 2022, New York time (the “ADS Record Date”), who wish to exercise their voting rights for the ADSs underlying Class A ordinary shares must give voting instructions to The Bank of New York Mellon, the depositary of the ADSs.
In order to be eligible to vote and attend the AGM, with respect to the Shares registered on the Company’s share registrar in Hong Kong, all valid documents for the transfers of shares accompanied by the relevant share certificates must be lodged with the Company’s share registrar in Hong Kong, Computershare Hong Kong Investor Services Limited, at Shops 1712-1716, 17th Floor, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, no later than 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, Hong Kong time; and with respect to ordinary shares registered on the Company’s principal share register in the Cayman Islands, all valid documents for the transfers of shares accompanied by the relevant share certificates must be lodged with the Company’s principal share registrar, Harneys Fiduciary (Cayman) Limited, at 4th Floor, Harbour Place, 103 South Church Street, P.O. Box 10240, Grand Cayman KY1-1002, Cayman Islands, no later than 6:00 p.m. on Monday, July 11, 2022, Cayman Islands time (due to the time difference between Cayman Islands and Hong Kong). All persons who are registered holders of the ordinary shares on the Share Record Date will be entitled to vote and attend the AGM.
Attending the AGM
Only holders of record of Shares as of the Share Record Date are entitled to attend and vote at the AGM. In order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and to safeguard the health and safety of Shareholders, the Company may implement certain precautionary measures at the AGM. All officers and agents of the Company reserve the right to refuse any person entry to the AGM venue, or to instruct any person to leave the AGM venue, where such officer or agent reasonably considers that such refusal or instruction is or may be required for the Company or any other person to be able to comply with applicable laws and regulations and local government’s directive. The exercise of such right to refuse entry or instruct to leave shall not invalidate the proceedings at the AGM.
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Proxy Forms and ADS Voting Cards
A holder of Shares as of the Share Record Date may appoint proxy(ies) to exercise his or her rights at the AGM. A holder of ADSs as of the ADS Record Date will need to instruct The Bank of New York Mellon, the depositary of the ADSs, as to how to vote the Class A ordinary shares represented by the ADSs. Please refer to the proxy form (for holders of Shares) or ADS voting card (for holders of ADSs). The proxy form is available on our website at investors.ke.com.
Holders of record of the Company’s Shares on the Company’s register of members as of the Share Record Date are entitled to attend the AGM in person. Your vote is important. You are urged to complete, sign, date, and return the accompanying proxy form to us (for holders of Shares) or your voting instructions to The Bank of New York Mellon (for holders of the ADSs) as promptly as possible and before the prescribed deadline if you wish to exercise your voting rights. We must receive the proxy form by no later than 11:00 a.m., Hong Kong time, on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 at 17M Floor, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong; and The Bank of New York Mellon must receive your voting instructions by the time and date specified in the ADS voting instruction card to enable the votes attaching to the Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs to be cast at the AGM.
By Order of the Board | |
KE Holdings Inc. | |
Yongdong Peng | |
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer |
Corporate Headquarters: | Registered Office: | |
Oriental Electronic Technology Building | Harneys Fiduciary (Cayman) Limited | |
No. 2 Chuangye Road | 4th Floor, Harbour Place | |
Haidian District | 103 South Church Street | |
Beijing 100086 | P.O. Box 10240 | |
PRC | Grand Cayman KY1-1002 | |
Cayman Islands |
June 30, 2022
As at the date of this notice, the board of directors of the Company comprises Mr. Yongdong Peng, Mr. Yigang Shan, Mr. Tao Xu and Mr. Wangang Xu as the executive directors, Mr. Jeffrey Zhaohui Li as the non-executive director, and Ms. Xiaohong Chen, Mr. Hansong Zhu and Mr. Jun Wu as the independent non-executive directors.
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