Toshiba shareholder pushes for buyout talks with Bain.
Toshiba’s second-largest shareholder, 3D Investment Partners, is pushing for the company to open talks on a private deal after it was revealed last week that Bain Capital is set to make a $17 billion takeover bid for the company. Japanese conglomerate.
The Singapore Hedge Fund said in a letter sent Wednesday to Toshiba’s board of directors that the company had become “a corporate governance embarrassment for Japan” as it wandered from one crisis to another.
He asked Toshiba to resume its strategic review process, to take it seriously. And to propose board seats to people nominated by major shareholders in preparation for the annual general meeting scheduled for June.
The company should “renew the strategic review process and encourage and solicit bids for all or part of a minority investment in Toshiba,” 3D wrote in the letter. Toshiba did not immediately respond.
Toshiba said last week that it “would do everything possible to build trust with shareholders and reconsider its strategic choices to continually enhance corporate value.”
3D’s intervention reflects growing concern among Toshiba investors that the company’s splintered board will dismantle a strategic review committee (SRC) established last year, derailing momentum to plan a future strategy after a period of turmoil that brought the conglomerate to the brink of bankruptcy.
The acquisition of Toshiba, which has businesses covering sensitive areas such as nuclear power, defense and semiconductors, will be one of the largest deals in Japanese history and will mark a milestone in the rise of Private capital In the third-largest economy in the world.
UBS advised SRC last November to split Toshiba into three, but the company was forced to back down when shareholders spoke out.
A second plan, to split the company in two, was Defeated by shareholders Last month. Although it received rejected advice from shareholders, Toshiba said it is keeping UBS as a consultant. Shareholders also rejected 3D’s rival bid to reopen takeover calls.