{"id":284400,"date":"2021-06-25T13:44:55","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T10:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/toshiba-shareholders-vote-to-oust-board-chair\/"},"modified":"2021-06-25T13:44:55","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T10:44:55","slug":"toshiba-shareholders-vote-to-oust-board-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/toshiba-shareholders-vote-to-oust-board-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"#Toshiba shareholders vote to oust board chair"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Toshiba shareholders vote to oust board chair<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"Once
\n Once a symbol of Japan’s advanced technology<\/a> and economic power, Toshiba has been beset by scandals and losses, though it has seen a recovery in recent years.
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Toshiba shareholders voted to oust the board’s chairman on Friday, in the latest twist for the company after scandals and losses, and a rare victory for activist investors in corporate Japan.<\/p>\n

CEO Satoshi Tsunakawa said shareholders had voted down a bid to reapp<\/a>oint Osamu Nagayama and a member of the firm’s audit committee, a result that surprised some observers in Japan’s often-staid corporate environment.<\/p>\n

It came despite Tsunakawa offering his backing for the chairman of the board, and pledging to work on re-establishing trust after the damaging revelations of an independent probe.<\/p>\n

In a statement announcing the results, Toshiba said only that it “recognises the seriousness of the rejection of some candidates for directors.”<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, an inquiry found that the troubled industrial conglomerate “devised a plan to effectively prevent shareholders from exercising their shareholder proposal rights and voting rights” at a meeting in July 2020.<\/p>\n

The meeting, at which the activist shareholders’ resolutions were rejected, was “not fairly managed”, the 140-page report concluded.<\/p>\n

It also detailed how Toshiba had pursued an intervention from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to help sway the vote.<\/p>\n

The probe was only launched after pressure from shareholders.<\/p>\n

Toshiba apologised after the report and said it would remove two directors, but declined to address the allegations it attempted to collude with the government on votes.<\/p>\n

The firm has been through months of turmoil, which only deepened after an unexpected buyout offer in April from a private equity fund associated with then-CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani. <\/p>\n

The offer sparked uproar, and reports of other possible buyout interest. Kurumatani resigned in April though he insisted it was not related to the fallout.<\/p>\n

Toshiba was once a symbol of Japan’s advanced technology and economic power. It has lurched from scandals and losses to a recovery in recent years.<\/p>\n

‘Shock’ result<\/b><\/p>\n

At Friday’s meeting, Tsunakawa sought to rally shareholder support for Nagayama.<\/p>\n

“The chairman of the board immedia<\/a>tely took action” after the probe, the CEO said, citing the removal of two directors and withdrawal of two other candidates, and moves to formulate “preventive measures.”<\/p>\n

Tsunakawa also told shareholders he took the recent crisis “seriously” and pledged “transparent communication.”<\/p>\n

But his backing for Nagayama was not sufficient to convince shareholders, with some analysts expressing surprise at the result.<\/p>\n

“We thought the results of the vote would be more like fifty-fifty,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

“Considering Japanese business practices, with easy approval of corporate proposals, I can say the result was a shock,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n

He said the firm was adrift, and needed new management to give it direction.<\/p>\n

“It’s tough to unite the company, as shareholders are sharply divided and there’s a lack of leadership. It’s an urgent and extremely difficult mission.”<\/p>\n

Others said shareholders had no choice but to reprimand management by voting down the reappointments.<\/p>\n

“This is not about Old Testament vengeance: it’s about trust,” said Nicholas Smith, an equity strategist at CLSA.<\/p>\n

“The board appears to have lost the trust of its main shareholders. They have a right and fiduciary duty to vote out anyone who has lost that trust,” he told AFP before the vote.<\/p>\n

Justin Tang, head of Asian research at United First Partners, told AFP that Nagayama had “stopped short of taking responsibility.”<\/p>\n

Securing Nagayama’s dismissal required both Japanese and foreign investors to jointly vote down the reappointment, and will send a message “to Japan INC… that corporate governance reform has taken hold domestically and that it needs to be taken seriously.”\n <\/p>\n\n

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Toshiba apologises to shareholders after vote probe\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Toshiba shareholders vote to oust board chair (2021, June 25)
\n retrieved 25 June 2021
\n from https:\/\/techxplore.com\/news<\/a>\/2021-06-toshiba-shareholders-vote-oust-board.html<\/p>\n

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