TOKYO: Dalton Investments’ co-founder James Rosenwald says he wants to avoid a proxy fight with Fuji Media Holdings Inc, calling on the Japanese broadcaster to negotiate a settlement.
Dalton is proposing 12 candidates to Fuji Media’s board, including SBI Holdings Inc’s outspoken chairman Yoshitaka Kitao.
The company is also demanding the media group, which is grappling with a sexual assault scandal, spin off its real estate business, unwind cross shareholdings and push through corporate governance reform.
In an interview, Rosenwald said he hoped Fuji TV president Kenji Shimizu would engage in talks before the broadcaster’s full-year earnings results are released this Friday.
Shimizu is slated to be the president of the group, pending approval at the annual shareholders’ meeting in June.
“I would love to negotiate a settlement with him,” he said.
“You should be able to negotiate without having to fight in front of all the shareholders and go to a proxy contest.”
Fuji Media is under fire over its repeated dismissal of sexual assault accusations against former TV host Masahiro Nakai.
The flight of big-name advertisers spurred Fuji Media to slash its annual outlook and overhaul its board.
But Dalton and other investors said that’s too little change to address company-wide lack of accountability. — Bloomberg
