The parent company of Okada Manila, Universal Entertainment, has announced that the son of its ousted founder Tomohiro Okada is up for election as a Director of its board and that it plans to dismiss its former CEO from his directorship role.
In a notice on Tuesday, the group indicated that it would hold an Extraordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting on September 19th to both elect Tomohiro Okada, son of Kazuo Okada, and to dismiss Jun Fujimoto – a current Director.
Tomohiro made waves when he split with his father in 2017, with Kazuo ousted from the board of Okada Manila. The divide was deepened after Kazuo instigated a hostile takeover of Okada Manila in May of 2022 – with a court ruling confirming his proper removal from his roles as CEO, Chairperson, director and shareholder of the operating company of the integrated resort: Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment (TRLEI).
Tomohiro is currently a director of the parent company of Universal Entertainment, Okada Holdings.
In its Tuesday statement, Universal Entertainment noted that the group was proposing the election ‘in order to further strengthen the Company’s business activities in Japan and overseas’.
In the same notice, the group informed that it was proposing dismissal of Jun Fujimoto as Director, referencing a shareholders suit against Fujimoto which claimed compensation for damages over breaches of his ‘fiducial duty or duty of loyalty as a director’ – as ruled by the Tokyo High Court.
The company noted that ‘it is appropriate to dismiss Mr. Jun Fujimoto from his position as a director of the Company in order to ensure thorough compliance and maintain a sound governance of the Company’.
Fujimoto resigned as president of Universal Entertainment in April, after the drawn-out lawsuit which commenced in August of 2019. It’s alleged that he pushed the company to transfer up to $43.5 million out of Universal Entertainment without proper justification and without adhering to internal decision-making procedures.
Universal Entertainment had announced the special board meeting to dismiss the former CEO in July of this year.
