GGRAsia – Universal Ent seeks fresh terms for seven directors

Universal Ent seeks fresh terms for seven directors

Feb 27, 2019 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Japanese gaming company Universal Entertainment Corp says its board will ask the annual meeting of shareholders on March 25 to reappoint seven directors whose current terms will expire that day.

Universal Entertainment told the Jasdaq securities exchange in Japan that the board will propose that shareholders reappoint Hajime Tokuda, Takako Okada, Kenshi Asano, Seisui Kamigaki, Yoshio Otani and Masayoshi Miyanaga as directors, and reappoint Jun Fujimoto as representative director and president.

The company said it would ask shareholders to confirm the appointment of one more corporate auditor “for the purpose of facilitating the further enhancement of the corporate governance framework of the company”.

The mention of Takako Okada is understood to be a reference to the wife of Universal Entertainment’s estranged founder Kazuo Okada. In an interview with the Reuters news agency in July 2017, Mr Okada was indirectly quoted as saying he could not forgive her for agreeing to be reappointed to Universal Entertainment’s board.

In 2017, Universal Entertainment removed Mr Okada from its board, after an investigation commissioned by the company alleged he had defrauded the business of millions of U.S. dollars. Mr Okada denies any such wrongdoing.

He is fighting to reassert his authority over Universal Entertainment by trying to wrest back control of Okada Holdings Ltd, a Hong Kong-registered private company that owns 68 percent of Universal Entertainment.

Universal Entertainment controls Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc, the promoter of the Okada Manila casino resort in the Philippines. Tiger Resort is mulling changing Okada Manila’s name. It also wants float the asset on the Philippine Stock Exchange: a move that Mr Okada is resisting.

Meanwhile, Universal Entertainment told Jasdaq the board intends to pay a dividend of JPY50 (US$0.45) a share to stockholders on the company’s register as at December 31.