By Maki Shiraki
TOKYO (Reuters) -Nissan Motor will face plenty of scrutiny over its deepening crisis at an annual general meeting on Tuesday, where investors will also vote on an activist proposal urging it to take action on listed subsidiary Nissan Shatai.
It is anyone’s guess whether new boss Ivan Espinosa will be able to halt the sharp decline at the automaker, where shares have fallen some 36% over the last year and dividend payments have been suspended. Nissan reported a $4.5 billion net loss in the last financial year and there is no guarantee it will return to profit this year – so far, it has declined to give a full-year earnings forecast.
Espinosa has laid out plans for big cuts, including closing seven plants and shedding a total of 20,000 jobs, or around 15% of Nissan’s workforce. One Tokyo-based activist investor, Strategic Capital, thinks the overhaul should include Nissan taking action on its listed subsidiary.
Japanese companies are under increasing pressure from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and regulators to clear up so-called “parent-child listings”, which are seen as unfair to minority shareholders and a drag on governance.
In one prominent example, Toyota Motor this month unveiled plans to take private its listed subsidiary, Toyota Industries, in a complex, $33 billion transaction that some shareholders have said undervalues the forklift operator.
Toyota likely took action because “it felt pressure from shareholders and thought it had to change,” said Tsuyoshi Maruki, the chief executive of Strategic Capital, in an interview with Reuters on Monday. He said he hoped Nissan’s management could also give the issue similar consideration.
Nissan owns 50% of Nissan Shatai, which manufactures cars for the automaker. Strategic Capital owns 3.5% of Nissan Shatai. It has also acquired a small stake in Nissan, allowing it to submit proposals to the general meeting.
It has proposed that Nissan change its articles of incorporation so that it would be required to annually examine its relationship with listed subsidiaries and disclose what action, if any, it planned to take.
Nissan’s board has opposed that and said changing its articles of incorporation would hinder its flexibility.
(Reporting by Maki Shiraki and David DolanEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
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