After Olympus....What Do Foreign Investors Want Most From Japanese Companies?

Arranged in collaboration with The Board Director Training Institute of Japan and TMI Associates

Fiscal year 2011 seems to have been the year of corporate scandals and governance mishaps in Japan. Olympus, Daio Paper, AIJ, Kyushu Electric, others....you name the type of scandal, it may well have occurred in 2011. As a result, policymakers have voiced serious concern about the need to improve corporate governance because "foreign money is deserting the market".

What about 2012?  Against the backdrop of under-funded pension plans and stock market malaise, 2012 may be the year of "back to basics", in which Japan's renewed focus on corporate governance in Japan expands into a broader discussion. How to raise investment returns? What are foreign investors most concerned about? What do they want Japanese managers to do better - not only on the corporate governance front, but in general? And are they in fact deserting the Japanese stock market, or it just normal ebbs and flows we are seeing?   

To give us the answers, CCCJ and The Board Director Training Institute of Japan (BDTI) , a non-profit organization, have brought together a panel including some of the most experienced representatives and advisors of foreign portfolio investment in Japan. Panel discussion will be moderated by Nicholas Benes, Representative Director of The Board Director Training Institute of Japan.

Panel Members

• Takeyuki Ishida, Executive Director in charge of proxy voting advisory business for Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) in Japan. In charge of Japan research at Institutional Shareholder Services since November 2008. Takeyuki joined Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) in Washington DC in 1999 as a research analyst covering shareholder meetings of Japanese companies. He received his MA in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and is a Chartered Member of the Japan Securities Analyst Association.
   
• Willie Chang, Director and head of Equity Capital Markets at Fidelity Japan.Willie has 18 years sell side equity sales and equity capital markets experience with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch prior to joining Fidelity seven years ago. He is responsible for over-the-wall transactions including M&A and capital raises for the Asia/Japan region. He also oversees corporate governance related functions and proxy voting guidelines for Fidelity Japan. Willie received his undergraduate business degree from University of Southern California.
   
• Hiromitsu Kamata, Head of Japanese Equity Target Department at Amundi Japan (the fund management subsidiary of Credit Agricole/ Societe Generale). He joined Yamaichi Securities in 1983 after receiving his BA in Social Science from International Christian University in Tokyo, and has been continuously involved in the Japanese equity market ever since. In 1993 he moved to the predecessor company of Amundi Japan, where he has managed mandates for sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, banks and other institutions, gaining broad experience ranging from small cap to large, and from growth to value stocks. In the last 10 years he has been managing a strategy called "Target", which invests in deeply undervalued Japanese companies. He is a chartered member of the Security Analysts Association of Japan.
   
• Howard Smith, Managing Director of Indus Capital Advisors, Inc. Howard Smith joined Indusin 2002 and became its Japan representative in 2007. He advises a $4.5bn equity fund-management company based in New York, which invests in Asia-Pacific equity markets, including Japan. Howard takes a keen interest in corporate governance and capital-efficiency issues. He has lived in Japan for a total of 19 years and previously worked for ING Baring Securities and Nomura Research Institute in Tokyo.Howard graduated from the　University of York (UK) with a BA in Economics/Statistics and from Birkbeck College, University of London with an MSc in Economics. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
   
• Scott Callon is Chief Executive Officer of Ichigo Asset Management, Ltd., a long-term Japanese value investment manager; Chairman of a JASDAQ-listed Japanese real estate asset manager that is the manager of the TSE-listed Ichigo REIT (8975), and a board member of CITIC International Assets Management Limited. He is a board member of the Japan Corporate Governance Network and is one of three judges appointed by the TSE for its annual Corporate Value Improvement Award. Scott graduated from Princeton University in 1986, has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Legal Advisor:  Kiyoshi Takahashi, Partner, TMI Associates. Member of the Bar in Tokyo and New York, with substantial experience in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Palo Alto in all matters relating to corporate law.