3D Investment Partners, the money manager that pushed for change at Toshiba, is targeting another Japanese company with a proxy fight over board directors that will be decided in a shareholder vote on Sunday.
Singapore-based 3D is seeking to appoint four outside board members at Fuji Soft, a Tokyo-listed software firm with a market capitalization of about $2 billion. 3D, the largest shareholder with a 21% stake, argues that Fuji Soft’s board has "presided over a long period of inefficient capital allocation and weak performance.” At particular issue is the company’s large real estate holdings.
It’s the latest test case for whether shareholders are becoming more influential in the country’s more than $5 trillion equity market. For much of the past decade, Japan has worked to overhaul how companies are run and get stock owners to press management to improve profitability and shareholder returns.