Some of the candidates put up by activist investor 3D Investment Partners will join the board of directors of software maker Fuji Soft. It is the most recent proxy battle being waged by activist investors who want more impartial control of Japanese companies. Four candidates have been put forth for the nine-member board of Fuji Soft, which 3D controls more than 20% of Shareholders’ fund Oasis Management has requested an EGM be held by Fujitec in order to replace the six current outside directors with seven new ones.
A motion to re-elect the elevator manufacturer’s top executive to the board was withdrawn by the company one hour before its June shareholders meeting. The Tokyo Stock Exchange estimates 92% of the roughly 1,800 corporations classify at least one-third of their directors as independent.
Long denounced as a source of corruption in the Japanese bureaucracy, the habit of senior government employees taking post-retirement positions in the private sector. Only 3.9% of the top-tier businesses have statutory nomination committees, which are required to have a majority of outside directors as members. Even a committee of this kind could fail to guarantee true independence.
You must be logged in to post a comment.