Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it has nominated two executives from overseas investment funds, its large shareholders considered activist investors, as the company aims to improve relations with such investors in pursuit of a reform plan, including a possible buyout.

Toshiba has also tapped Akihiro Watanabe, the chairman of merger and acquisition advisory firm Houlihan Lokey K.K., as chairman of its board, subject to approval at the company's annual shareholders' meeting next month.

Toshiba named the two executives, Nabeel Bhanji of Elliott Investment Management and Eijiro Imai of Farallon Capital Japan LLC, among 13 board candidates to be proposed at the shareholders' meeting.

The board's revamping comes as Toshiba, a household name in Japan with a nearly 150-year history, has been under pressure from shareholders, frustrated by its lackluster efforts to boost growth and corporate value.

The struggling company has proposed restructuring plans, including one that would see the company broken up into two entities. But the plans were met with opposition from shareholders.

In April, the conglomerate made an unprecedented move by saying it was welcoming suggestions on business strategies, including potential acquisitions.

Toshiba said in a release that each of the two funds is a "significant shareholder of the company," adding that "Having shareholder representatives join the board strengthens the alignment between shareholders and management."

The company currently has eight board members. It proposed 13 potential candidates at a shareholders' meeting last year, but the number was pared down, partly because shareholders voted to remove former board chairman Osamu Nagayama and Nobuyuki Kobayashi, who was a member of Toshiba's audit committee.

Current board chair Satoshi Tsunakawa was appointed for the post on an interim basis and will be replaced by Watanabe.

The rejection came after an independent probe found Toshiba had colluded with the government in pressuring foreign activist investors in the run-up to a general shareholders meeting in 2020 over their proposal to appoint outside directors.

On May 13, Toshiba canceled a planned announcement of its potential board members, saying that it needed more time to look into potential conflicts of interest among its external board member candidates.

==Kyodo

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