Highest no. of firms hold shareholders meetings for FY 2007

TOKYO, June 28 Kyodo - The largest number of companies, whose previous fiscal year ended March 31, held their shareholders meetings for the business year on Friday amid increasing attendance of activist shareholders, public outcries about various kinds of corporate scandals and possible takeover attempts by some investors.

At many meetings, at which companies and shareholders clashed, the companies
managed to have their way because their proposals carried the day when they
came to a vote.

A total of 1,315 companies including those not traded on stock exchanges
convened meetings across the country, according to the National Police Agency.

Among firms on the defensive was IHI Corp., which faces a penalty of 1.6
billion yen recommended earlier this month by the Securities and Exchange
Surveillance Commission. The builder of heavy industrial systems and ships has
been accused of window-dressing its financial statement.

At the company's meeting, IHI President Kazuaki Kama said, ''We offer our
heartfelt apologies for causing dismay to our shareholders.''

So did Masatomo Nakamura, president of Nippon Paper Group Inc., which has been
found to have inflated the amounts of recycled paper that they claimed to have
used in their new products.

At Hibiya Engineering Ltd.'s meeting, shareholders voted down a U.S. investment
fund's proposal of a dividend hike.

Nihon Housing Co., a condominium operator, has been at loggerheads with major
shareholder Harakosan Co., another property firm, which has proposed taking
over Nihon Housing.

Kitazawa Sangyo Co., which deals in commercial-use kitchen utensils and other
equipment, prevailed over a Japanese investment fund that opposed the
reappointment of Mitsuyuki Ozaki as Kitazawa president. Ozaki therefore will
stay on.

Photofinishing equipment maker Noritsu Koki Co. saw its proposal to promote
Executive Vice President Takayuki Kida to president rejected due mainly to
opposition from its founding family.

The company was instead compelled to accept the demand of the founding family
to appoint Yukihiko Chayama, former president of Seiko Instruments Inc., as new
Noritsu president.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.'s meeting was a mammoth event held at
Nippon Budokan, an auditorium used for athletic and other events that can seat
more than 14,000 people.

The major banking group also came under fire as the online network of its core
unit the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ malfunctioned in May when it integrated
the systems of its predecessor banks -- the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UFJ Bank. ==Kyodo