Shareholder meetings of companies that closed their books in March are over. The peak day saw 1,457 companies holding meetings. At many of the meetings, investment funds saw their proposals, most of them calling for payment of higher dividends, killed one after another due to opposition from other shareholders.
On the other hand, many companies succeeded in having takeover-defense plans approved. Although investment funds did not get their own way in many cases, company executives cannot sit idly by. Such funds are likely to be active at future shareholder meetings. Company executives will need to prepare themselves to deal persuasively with their proposals.
In response to the legalization May 1 of the so-called triangular merger — which changes the Japanese corporate environment by enabling a local subsidiary of a foreign company to use shares in its parent to purchase a Japanese company — 210 companies successfully moved to get plans for takeover-defense measures approved at their shareholder meetings in late June.