Toyota Group suppliers Denso, Aisin scale back cross-shareholdings, filing shows

Toyota Tsusho

20/06/2024 11:25

TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - Two of Toyota's  7203.T  top
suppliers, Denso and Aisin, have sold off holdings in several
Toyota-affiliated companies, regulatory filings showed on
Thursday, in the latest reduction of cross-shareholding across
the sprawling automotive group.
    Denso  6902.T , one of the world's largest makers of
automotive components, had sold off its stakes in Toyota Group
companies Toyota Boshoku  3116.T  Toyota Tsusho  8015.T , Toyoda
Gosei  7282.T  and Hino Motors  7205.T , among others, as of the
financial year that ended in March, a filing showed.
    Aisin  7259.T  had also reduced its stakes in those
companies to zero, as well as sold off its Denso stake,
according to a separate filing.
    Both still have stakes in other Toyota Group firms. Toyota's
cross-shareholdings have come under renewed focus in recent
years as more companies wind down the practice, which has long
been seen as a corporate governance black mark because it can
lead to a cosy relationship between management and large
shareholders.
    Shareholder backing for Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda slid for
a second straight year at its annual general meeting this week,
with governance concerns playing a role.
    Toyota has said that to accelerate its transformation it
would sell cross-shareholdings.
    Denso in April said it planned to sell all of its
cross-shareholdings, as it looks to fund acquisitions and other
investments.

 (Reporting by David Dolan
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((david.dolan@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 4563 2708;))