BBC (December 19)
“Once a poster boy for Japan’s dominance in electronics—known as Japan Inc—the company has delisted, ending a 74-year history with Tokyo’s stock exchange.” The reasons for “such a spectacular fall from grace” are numerous and the challenge for Japan Investment Corp (JIC), which led a group of investors in purchasing the remnants for $14 billion, is immense. While JIC has successfully revived other failing businesses, “Toshiba is a much bigger company and the stakes are high.”
Tags: $14 billion, Challenge, Delisted, Dominance, Electronics, Failing businesses, Fall, Japan Inc., JIC Investors, Revived, Stakes, Toshiba, TSE
Reuters (January 20)
“The end of a long battle to wring some value from Toshiba is finally within reach.” Foreign investors and private equity are unlikely to be encouraged. The process “typifies the tortuous journey required of pushy shareholders to get Japanese executives to allocate capital more shrewdly.”
Tags: Allocate, Battle, Capital, Encouraged, Executives, Foreign investors, Japan, Private equity, Pushy, Shareholders, Tortuous, Toshiba, Value
Financial Times (May 13)
For some time, “private equity firms have set their sights on the many profitable yet unloved parts of corporate Japan that sit under the umbrellas of conglomerates such as Toshiba, Hitachi and others.” Currently, “the attention on Japan could not be any greater. Much of the ‘dry powder’ sitting in funds raised for Asian dealmaking is now less likely to be used in China than to back increasingly ambitious deals in Japan.”
Tags: Ambitious, Asian, China, Conglomerates, Dealmaking, Dry-powder, Funds, Hitachi, Japan, Private equity, Profitable, Toshiba, Unloved
Financial Times (April 13)
“A charitable take on things would be that Toshiba — a 146-year-old industrial masterpiece that fancies itself as the “Mona Lisa” but more often comes across as “The Scream” — has reached this important landmark via the scenic route.” Since this “included accounting fraud, a brush with bankruptcy, multiple chief executive resignations and a four-year war with investors,” it could also be said that Toshiba “finds it institutionally hard to read signs or admit it is lost.”
Tags: Accounting fraud, Bankruptcy, Charitable, Industrial, Investors, Landmark, Mona Lisa, Resignations, Toshiba
The Economist (April 9)
“Toshiba was once synonymous with Japan’s industrial might.” Over the past decade, it “has become a byword for drama,” which has included accounting fraud and an ongoing “series of ‘slapstick’ struggles between management and shareholders.” A possible buy-out led by Bain Capital has “raised hopes among investors for some sort of resolution to the saga.” This could potentially prove a watershed moment and “be a big deal for Japan.”
Tags: Accounting fraud, Bain Capital, Buy-out, Drama, Hopes, Industrial might, Investors, Japan, Management, Shareholders, Slapstick, Struggles, Toshiba
New York Times (June 26)
“The ouster of the chairman, Osamu Nagayama, 74, represents a major win in a battle between Toshiba and foreign investors who have pushed the conservative company to clean up its governance. It is also a breakthrough in a broader effort to increase investor oversight of Japanese corporations, following a series of government-led changes meant to make companies more transparent and accountable.”
Tags: Battle, Breakthrough, Chairman, Clean-up, Conservative, Foreign investors, Governance, Government, Japanese corporations, Nagayama, Ouster, Oversight, Toshiba, Transparent, Win
Bloomberg (June 15)
“If Toshiba Corp. tried to bully hedge funds through the government, that’s a bad look all around. The only parties who come off well are the activists the company allegedly aimed to suppress…. In the end, it looks like activist hedge funds aren’t so big and bad after all. They’re doing what they’re supposed to do. Now it’s open season for Japan Inc.”
Tags: Activist, Activists, Bad look, Bully, Government, Hedge funds, Japan Inc., Suppress, Toshiba
Wall Street Journal (June 11)
A report on Toshiba “harked back to the days when Japan Inc. was a popular term to describe the perceived tight linkage between big business and government in blocking foreign influence in Japan.” The company-commissioned report found that Toshiba Corp. “worked closely with Japanese government officials to block foreign-based shareholders from exercising their rights, using inappropriate threats and language such as ‘beat them up.’”
Tags: Big business, Foreign, Government, Inappropriate, Influence, Japan Inc., Linkage, Report, Rights, Shareholders, Threats, Toshiba
Financial Times (June 10)
“The depth of collusion between Toshiba, the Japanese government and the former investment head of the world’s biggest pension fund to influence board nominations last year has been laid bare by an independent probe” and “represented an attempt to unfairly restrict the exercise of shareholder rights.”
Tags: Board, Collusion, Depth, Exercise, Fund, Government, Independent, Influence, Investment, Japan, Nominations, Pension, Probe, Restrict, Shareholder rights, Toshiba, Unfairly
Financial Times (March 18)
“A long-awaited showdown between Toshiba and its two largest investors has ended in embarrassment for the conglomerate and an unprecedented show of shareholder strength in Japan. The landmark vote in favour of a probe into Toshiba’s conduct follows five years of increasingly confident shareholder activism against the conservative bastion of corporate Japan.”
Tags: Activism, Conduct, Confident, Conglomerate, Conservative, Corporate Japan, Embarrassment, Investors, Japan, Landmark vote, Showdown, Strength, Toshiba, Unprecedented
