By Makiko Yamazaki
TOKYO -Nearly 60% of Toshiba Corp shareholders voted last week against a plan to spin off its devices business, a breakdown of the vote showed.
A separate call from activist shareholder 3D Investment Partners for a private equity buyout was rejected by just short of 55% of shareholders who voted. Both proposals needed 50% of the vote to pass at last Thursday’s extraordinary meeting.
With the two competing proposals both voted down, the Japanese conglomerate is left to seek alternatives, potentially focusing on new CEO Taro Shimada’s plan to boost subscription revenue by tying software to hardware.
There was widespread opposition to the management-backed plan to spin off the devices business, including from Toshiba’s three biggest shareholders and proxy shareholder advisory firms.
The proposal from 3D, Toshiba’s second-biggest shareholder with a stake of more than 7%, had the backing of other activist shareholders but proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) had advised against it.
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(Reporting by Makiko YamazakiEditing by Christopher Cushing and David Goodman)