Toshiba director defends board nominees from hedge fund shareholders By Reuters

By Makiko Yamazaki and Yuki Nitta

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Toshiba (OTC:) Corp external director on Tuesday rejected criticism that having two shareholder representatives would skew the board, as boardroom tensions at the troubled conglomerate erupted into a public row over a slate of director candidates.

“I disagree that the board is skewed,” Jerry Black, an external director on Toshiba’s five-member nomination committee, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

Black’s comment was in reference to objection by another nomination committee member, Mariko Watahiki, to two board director candidates from hedge fund shareholders Elliott Management and Farallon Capital Management.

Watahiki, a former high court judge, has said the slate lacks diversity, fairness and balance on the board.

“When it comes to the two directors, I think that they are going to be great contributors to the board,” Black said.

“They were evaluated based upon the individual capabilities. Both of those firms have spent thousands and thousands of hours on researching Toshiba.”

In the same interview, CEO Taro Shimada declined to comment on the nominees saying he is “not in a position to judge the nomination committee’s decisions”.

But he said that the execution of a great business plan “can only solve the problem”.

Separately on Tuesday, Toshiba issued a statement reiterating its support for the slate of all 13 board director candidates.

“Watahiki’s opinions represent her personal view and do not affect the company’s position of support” for the two candidates, Toshiba board chair Satoshi Tsunakawa said in a statement.