Japan’s Universal Entertainment Corporation (UEC) – a leading developer of pachinko equipment and parent company of Philippines integrated resort Okada Manila – has implemented a new management structure it says is designed to expedite the decision-making process.
The new structure follows the conclusion of the company’s Annual Shareholders Meeting on Thursday at which four new directors were officially elected to the board, including UEC’s controlling shareholder Tomohiro Okada as Representative Director and President. The board now comprises a total of eight directors of which six are non-executive.
According to information filed with the Nikkei, UEC has also appointed 12 Executive Officers who will report directly to the board and be tasked with executing strategy.
“UEC has had an Executive Officer system in place for some time, but the new structure is intended to reduce the excessive concentration of authority and to facilitate speedier decision making,” the company explained.
“The new system will promote speedy business execution centered on the 12 Executive Officers, while the Board of Directors will make decisions on broad business strategies. Directors will appropriately supervise Executive Officers, thereby further strengthening UEC’s governance structure and striving for sustainable growth of the company and enhancement of corporate value over the medium to long term.”
In a separate filing, UEC also noted that the election of Okada – the estranged son of disgraced company founder Kazuo Okada – could be seen as diluting its independence from its controlling entity, Okada Holdings Ltd but argued that the presence of six non-executive directors provides sufficient separation.
Tomohiro Okada holds 53.26% of Okada Holdings which in turn owns 70.3% of UEC.
“Since UEC has two outside directors and four audit and supervisory board members that meets the prescribed standard of independence by UEC, we are in a position to make fair business judgements,” it explained. “The management policies and business operations are based on the consideration of independent standard by UEC. In addition, the business of our parent company is investment in securities, which is a different business from UEC, and we are not dependent on our parent company for any transactions.”
Okada is, the company added, “committed to the management of UEC with strong determination to maximize its corporate value and to achieve sustainable growth and is personally taking the lead in driving corporate reforms and executing growth strategies in order to earn the trust from shareholders.”
Okada was first appointed to the UEC board in September after former Representative Director and President Jun Fujimoto was forced out.
However, an internal Governance Committee recommended earlier this month that UEC seek greater separation from Okada Holdings Ltd due to an ongoing Okada family dispute.
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