Some 85% of Toyota shareholders vote to re-elect Toyoda at annual meet

TOKYO — About 85% of Toyota Motor’s shareholders voted to re-elect Chairman Akio Toyoda to the automaker’s board of directors at an annual general meeting, the company said on Thursday, for his lowest approval rating in at least five years.

Support for Toyoda, the grandson of the founder of the world’s top-selling automaker, fell from 96% the previous year, when he was president and chief executive.

The lower support probably pointed to some investors’ worry over governance at the automaker rather than strategy, as its profitability and share price have risen, said Koji Endo, head of the equity research department at SBI Securities.

“From the viewpoint of Japanese, there isn’t any particular problem with governance,” he said. “From the perspective of some U.S. and European institutional investors, there’s a lack of clarity and transparency.”

Some influential U.S. funds, including top public pension CalPERS, had come out against the re-election of Toyoda ahead of Wednesday’s meeting.

Toyota has said Toyoda was re-nominated as he would push its transformation into a company that provides a range of mobility services.

A day before the shareholder meeting, it unveiled a sweeping plan to introduce solid-state batteries and other technologies to improve the driving range and cut costs of future electric vehicles.

About 15% of shareholders backed a resolution that would have compelled the automaker to make greater disclosure of its climate change lobbying activities, but it fell short of the two-thirds majority required to pass.

Toyota’s board had recommended shareholders vote against it.

Danish pension fund AkademikerPension and two other European asset managers, which had submitted the resolution, were glad for the support it received, they said in a joint statement.

“We will continue to engage actively and support Toyota,” they added.

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by David Dolan)