GGRAsia – Tomohiro Okada named president, director of Universal Ent

Tomohiro Okada named president, director of Universal Ent

Sep 20, 2024 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

Tomohiro Okada has been appointed as president and representative director of Universal Entertainment Corp, the parent of the Okada Manila casino resort in the Philippines.

Mr Tomohiro Okada is a son of Kazuo Okada, the ousted founder of the Japanese gaming conglomerate.

“The board of directors has appointed Mr Tomohiro Okada as representative director and president effective from September 19, 2024,” stated Universal Entertainment in a Thursday filing.

The appointment was made during a board meeting on Thursday, the announcement added. It followed an extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting earlier that day, in which Mr Tomohiro Okada had been elected as a company board director.

Mr Tomohiro Okada is already a director of privately-held Hong Kong firm Okada Holdings Ltd, which is the parent company of Universal Entertainment.

As part of the changes, Hajime Tokuda was designated as a director and vice president of the group, responsible for corporate planning and foreign business development. He was previously a representative director and president of the company.

Takako Okada, who was also a representative director of Universal Entertainment, is now identified as a director. She is the mother of Mr Tomohiro Okada.

In a previous statement, Universal Entertainment had said the reason for adding Mr Tomohiro Okada as a board director was to “strengthen the company’s business activities in Japan and overseas”.

Another topic that was do be discussed at Thursday’s extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting – concerning Jun Fujimoto’s dismissal from Universal Entertainment’s board – had been withdrawn a fortnight ago, as Mr Fujimoto stepped down from his position

In June, the company said it had taken the “necessary measures” to ensure its “right to claim damages against” Mr Fujimoto. He had previously resigned as president and chief executive of the company, but had remained with the firm as a director of the board.

Mr Fujimoto stepped down in April from his role as president following a ruling in the Tokyo High Court on a shareholder lawsuit dating back to August 2019.

In a separate filing last week, Universal Entertainment said its board had decided to establish a governance committee “composed of outside officers”.

“The company has decided to establish a governance committee with the aim of verifying whether the management team’s stance, awareness of compliance, and governance structure are in line with the trust and expectations of shareholders and employees, as well as the trust of domestic and international stakeholders,” stated the Japanese conglomerate.