Japanese Asset Managers and Activism
A Look at Which Japanese Asset Managers Supported Effissimo at the March 2021 Special Meeting 24 June 2021
Japanese publication JIJI covered SquareWell’s “Activism in Japan” paper in its latest article where it looked at the shifting behavior of Japanese asset managers. As covered in the article, a number of Japanese institutional investors voted in favor of a proposal for Effissimo’s proposal to appoint independent investigators at Toshiba Corp. The proposal, which was approved at a special meeting in March 2021, was supported by at least three Japanese institutional investors, including Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management and Daiwa Asset Management.
One source in the financial industry expert commented to JIJI saying that, “Even in Japan, people are becoming less resistant to shareholders who speak out, and they are making decisions after assessing the content of proposals.” On the other hand, many major investors continue to take a ‘management-friendly’ stance,” he said, based on the fact that Nippon Life Insurance and Nomura Asset Management did not support Effissimo’s proposal.
You can access the article here.
