A reporter raises his hand for a question during a Toshiba news conference at the company headquarters in Tokyo on Jun 23, 2017. TOKYO: Effissimo Capital Management has gained further backing in its push for a probe into Toshiba, but big stakes built up by investors like BlackRock have raised questions over how much influence it and other activist shareholders will ultimately wield.
Reuters has reported the Harvard University endowment fund had been told by a Japanese government adviser that it could be subject to a regulatory probe if it voted against management at the AGM. The fund abstained from voting as a result and later learnt there was no basis for any probe, sources have said.
The vote about the proposed independent investigation will take place at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on Mar 18.Activist investors are estimated to hold about 25 per cent of Toshiba's shares, and their dissatisfaction with management saw chief executive Nobuaki Kurumatani only narrowly hang on to his job with 57 per cent of the vote at the last AGM.
Both BlackRock and Mizuho Financial Group have built stakes of 5 per cent in Toshiba, filings on Friday and late on Thursday showed - stakes which sources familiar with the matter said likely reflect the need to have shares on hand for their customers.But to vote at the Mar 18 meeting, shareholders need to have held Toshiba shares as of Feb 1. It is unclear at what point BlackRock and Mizuho began additional share purchases.
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