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Hohn loses fight on J-Power divi
26.06.08
Hedge fund manager Chris Hohn today lost his battle to force Japanese utility J-Power to double its dividend.
The activist investor behind The Children's Investment Fund (TCI) has been fighting J-Power for months to force big changes on Japan's leading electricity provider.
TCI is J-Power's largest shareholder with about 10%. Earlier this year, the company's board refused to allow Hohn to double his stake.
In a vote today, shareholders rejected TCI's proposal to double the dividend as well as throwing out four corporate governance measures on cross-shareholdings which were demanded by the fund.
TCI's fight was seen as a test case for pushing Japanese directors into improving shareholder returns.
It was backed by many foreigners operating in Japan, although some say TCI went about it the wrong way.
Nicolas Smith, director of equity sales at HSBC Holdings in Tokyo, said TCI had failed because it had turned it into a foreigner versus Japan issue rather than one of small shareholders against the Japanese old boy network.
