Business

Probe concludes Toshiba, with government, sought to pressure shareholders at AGM

An independent probe into Toshiba Corp's controversial annual shareholders' meeting last year concluded that the company, together with the government's industry ministry, effectively colluded to undermine shareholders' rights.

FILE PHOTO: Logo of Toshiba Corp is seen as Window cleaners work on the company's headquarters
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Toshiba Corp at the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, February 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

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TOKYO: An independent probe into Toshiba Corp's controversial annual shareholders' meeting last year concluded that the company, together with the government's industry ministry, effectively colluded to undermine shareholders' rights.

Activist investors including Effissimo Capital Management had successfully pushed for an investigation into whether the Japanese conglomerate applied pressure on shareholders over voting at the meeting.

"Toshiba, so to speak in unison with METI, devised a plan to prevent Effissimo from exercising its shareholder proposal right at the AGM," investigators said in the report which was released by Toshiba.

The controversy comes amid a push by Japan's government for improved corporate governance.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Edwina Gibbs)

Source: Reuters