Cerberus Capital Management LP is finding ways to increase its shareholdings in Seibu Holdings of Japan. Currently it is at 32.4% and the level sought reached is 44.7%. This would also allow the private equity firm to nominate eight members of the Seibu board of directors.
The move would certainly cause battle lines to be drawn between the railway shareholders and the real estate shareholders when it comes to the management decisions for the company.
Cerberus had previously proposed the lifting of the stake to 36.44% and nominate three directors clearly to change the current make up of the corporate governance of Seibu. One of the candidates is former US Vice President Danforth Quayle, who is now the current chairman of Cerberus Global Investments.
Should Cerberus succeed, it would will have both a larger stake and half of the eighteen director seats in the expanded board. This though is not a guarantee of any changes, as Japan's corporate history is fraught with these aims
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