CalPERS Opposes Appointment of Toyoda to Toyota Board

Tokyo, June 2 (Jiji Press)--CalPERS, the biggest public pension fund in the United States, has voted against a Toyota Motor Corp. proposal to appoint Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda to the board of the leading Japanese automaker, it was learned Friday. The proposal has been presented for a general meeting of Toyota shareholders scheduled for June 14 at the company's headquarters in the city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. As a reason for its opposition to the appointment of Toyoda, CalPERS, officially called the California Public Employees' Retirement System, said that the degree of the Toyota board's independence is below 50 pct. CalPERS also opposed the proposed appointments of seven others, including Toyota President Koji Sato, as board directors of the automaker. In response to CalPERS' action, Toyota said that the company has named the right people as its board directors while noting that it has been urged by the pension fund to see to it that outside directors account for more than half of its board members. U.S. proxy advisory company Glass Lewis has advised Toyota shareholders to vote against the appointment of Toyoda. CalPERS, meanwhile, voted for a shareholder proposal submitted by three European asset management companies over decarbonization at Toyota. END