Yoshiaki Murakami, Japan's most famous activist shareholder before he was convicted of insider trading in 2007, is once again pressing the nation's companies and this time it's a family act.
Murakami and C&I Holdings Co., an investment firm headed by his 27-year-old daughter, have built a stake in Kuroda Electric Co. and say the maker of electronic parts should return more to shareholders. They want to put four outside directors, including Murakami, on the board. As shareholders prepare to vote on the proposals at an Aug. 28 extraordinary meeting, one former president of Kuroda Electric has already expressed support.
Murakami, an outspoken early champion of shareholder rights in Japan, is re-entering the fray almost a decade after the scandal that forced him to close his multibillion-dollar fund. He now lives in Singapore. As government reforms spur a revival of activism in Japan, his daughter, Aya, says the nation's now ready for her father's ideas.