Japanese Sapporo must be more transparent in the sale of real estate, says the Committee candidate
Tokyo (Reuters) – The beer manufacturer of Sapporo Holdings LTD must be more transparent in terms of his plans to delay some of his significant real estate shares, said the Committee candidate who supported the largest shareholder of the Japanese company.
Paul Brough, a former independent director in Toshiba and a nominated 3D investment partners based in Singapore, said Sapporo has strong brands, but that he is tormented with bad results and inefficient capital distribution.
“We need to build transparency with our shareholders,” Brough said in an interview on Friday. “We have to tell them where we are with the real estate deflection process.”
The 3D Investment announced on Monday that the advisory company for Proxy shareholders Glass Lewis supported Brouch as an external Director of Sapporo, winning an earlier recommendation by ISS, other proxy advisory companies.
Sapporo said that he opposed the Bough nomination because of the overlapping skill with other directors and because his consulting role with a 3D investment makes “independent”.
Last month, the company said it had received proposals of more than 10 companies and funds concerning capital injection into its real estate business. Sapporo said he would decide on the plan by the end of this year.
3D, which increased its share in Sapporo to more than 19%, according to LSEG data, was openly critical of the company management of at least 2022.
Sapporo was the goal of the 2007 downloading offer by the US activist Fund Steel Partners, who urged the company to sell out less performance and improve real estate stake management.
The company should hold its annual shareholder meeting on March 28. Brough said that if he was elected to the Committee, he would ask the company to use the revenue from the sale of real estate to consider strategic acquisitions, purchases or special dividends.
(Reporting Rocky Swift; Sherry Jacob-Phillips Mounting)
