Shareholders in Toshiba Corp have voted in two board directors from activist hedge fund investors at the firm’s annual general meeting, along with 11 other candidates, according to a report by Reuters.
The two new directors are Nabeel Bhanji, a senior portfolio manager at Elliott Management, and Eijiro Imai, managing director at Farallon Capital Management. In addition, Akihiro Watanabe, an executive from boutique US investment bank Houlihan Lokey has been elected as chairman of the board.
The new appointments, Toshiba’s first major board reshuffle since June 2019, comes as the company is thought to be reviewing its strategic options including a possible private equity buyout. In March, the company’s shareholders rejected a management proposal to restructure the firm without outside investment.
Farallon and Elliott hold a combined 10% of Toshiba and activist shareholders overall are estimated to own roughly a quarter of the company’s stock.
