On Friday, June 20, 2025, it was announced that a shareholder proposal to elect Dalton Investments (“Dalton” or “we”) founder and CIO Jamie Rosenwald to the board of Hogy Medical (3593 JP) had passed with 52.1% of votes in favor. Despite Dalton making more shareholder proposals than any other peer institutional asset manager in Japan, this board seat represents our first direct victory in a proxy vote.
Mr. Rosenwald has now taken his place on the board and plans to continue to work to maximize the value of Hogy Medical for all shareholders.
When making shareholder proposals, Dalton’s objective is not necessarily to win a majority of shareholder votes, but rather to force the target company to discuss the issues we raise at their board meetings and issue a public opinion, which is visible to all shareholders and the market. While company management inevitably recommends voting against our proposals, the public light shone on these issues tends to force the company’s hand in implementing some improvements to appease their broader shareholder base. That we have managed to finally win a shareholder vote outright fills us with hope that Japan has the potential to evolve into the world’s leading shareholder democracy, where the voices of all shareholders are heard.