Japan Tobacco Shareholders Reject U.K. Hedge Fund''s Proposals Including Dividend Hike

Source from:  The Wall Street Journal  06/24/2013

Shareholders of Japan Tobacco Inc. (2914.TO) Friday voted down a set of proposals by a U.K.-based activist hedge fund, including a sharp dividend hike.

The company, known as JT, has already expressed opposition to the proposals put forward by The Children's Investment Fund, a minority shareholder. These proposals were for a hike in the dividend payout for this fiscal year through March to Y150 per share, instead of a payment of Y68 per share the company is planning to distribute, a buyback of Y350 billion worth of common shares by June 2014, and the cancellation of JT's holdings of its own shares.

JT has said such shareholder returns and share cancellations would limit the company's future business investment and derail sustained profit growth over the mid- to long-term.

A total of 2,638 shareholders attended the annual shareholders meeting, which lasted 2 hours and 2 minutes. A year earlier, 763 shareholders attended the meeting, when they also rejected a similar proposal by the U.K.-based fund.

The percentage of executed voting rights was 87.0%, compared with 89.6% a year-earlier.

"Japan Tobacco Shareholders Reject U.K. Hedge Fund's Proposals Including Dividend Hike," at 0321 GMT, misstated the year-earlier percentage of executed voting rights in the fifth paragraph.

The percentage of executed voting rights was 87.0%, compared with 88.7% a year-earlier. Enditem