Shareholders of Jupiter Telecommunications Co. voted Thursday in favor of a motion to integrate four officials from its new top shareholder, KDDI Corp., into its board, the company said.
The vote empowers three of the four officials from KDDI, which last month gained a 31.1 percent stake in Japan's largest cable television services provider, widely known as J:Com, from the U.S. Liberty Global Inc. group to sit on the board as directors, while allowing the fourth to become an auditor, it said.
In the new 14-member board, eight people, including President Tomoyuki Moriizumi, come from trading house Sumitomo Corp, which is one of two J:Com cofounders with Telecommunication International Inc., the predecessor of Liberty Global.
Sumitomo, now the second-biggest shareholder, with a 27.40 percent stake, is seeking to outpace KDDI in terms of voting rights by conducting a tender offer aimed at bolstering the stake to 40 percent.
The tender offer, which got under way March 3, is to last through April 14. If the bid is successful, it will make Sumitomo the biggest J:Com shareholder.
Moriizumi told the meeting attended by some 150 shareholders: "It is crucial for the three companies (J:Com, Sumitomo and KDDI) to speedily build up a cooperative business relationship. We would like to arrange tripartite talks after the tender offer is concluded."