Japan

In a marathon six-hour session, more than 9,000 shareholders of embattled Tokyo Electric Power grilled management over alleged failures in handling the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northern Japan, but refused to back a proposal demanding an end to the utility's use of nuclear power, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported.

Far away from the battle to contain the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, investors are increasingly edgy about a related issue: the fate of Tokyo Electric Power, the stricken plant’s operator, the International Herald Tribune reported. The physical damage from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been so widespread that even conservative estimates of compensation claims amount to tens of billions of dollars — a burden that could render Japan’s largest utility insolvent.

This weekend marks three months since an earthquake and tsunami swept a large swathe of Japan. The disaster only gets worse for the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, owner of the ill-fated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. This week, investors tripped over themselves to sell their shares, dragging the stock price to its lowest-ever level before a bit of a rebound, The Wall Street Journal reported in a commentary.

Moody's Investors Service warned Tuesday that it is placing Japan's sovereign debt ratings under review for a possible downgrade, as measures to reduce a yawning budget deficit are increasingly hamstrung by political infighting and an opposition bent on ousting the current government, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The foreign chief executive of embattled Tokyo Star Bank is likely to be asked to step down, people familiar with the discussions said on Monday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Robert M. Berardy, a rare foreign CEO at the helm of Japanese bank, will likely be asked to leave after creditors gain control of the bank from its current owner--private equity fund Advantage Partners LLC--according to the people. Masaru Irie, one of directors of the bank and its chief administrative officer, will likely be promoted to the bank's president, the people said.

Slow decision-making by the government is weighing on the credit ratings of Tokyo Electric Power Co., analysts at Moody's Investors Service said Thursday, adding that any forced debt waiver by the embattled utility's creditors could result in it being downgraded to junk status, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Discord within the Democratic Party of Japan-led government over how to share the burden of compensation related to the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has increased uncertainty over Tepco's ability to pay off its debt, the analysts said at a briefing.

Japan’s economy shrank more than estimated in the first quarter after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disrupted production and prompted consumers to cut back spending, sending the nation to its third recession in a decade. Gross domestic product contracted an annualized 3.7 percent in the three months through March, following a revised 3 percent drop in the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median forecast of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 1.9 percent drop. Economists typically define a recession as two consecutive quarters of contraction.

The president of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. hit out at remarks by the government's top spokesman calling for lenders to forgive some of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s debt, saying the government has no place directly intervening in private-sector business decisions, The Wall Street Journal reported. The comments Monday by Katsunori Nagayasu, president and chief executive of MUFG, Japan's biggest bank by assets, were the strongest yet by the head of a big lender in response to remarks Friday by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

Japan's government on Friday unveiled a comprehensive plan to rescue Tokyo Electric Power Co. and fund compensation claims stemming from the country's worst-ever nuclear energy disaster that are expected to total more than ¥2.5 trillion, or roughly $31 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. The approval by the cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan came after last-minute disputes within the ruling party over how heavily the company should be penalized and who in the end would pay the massive costs.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. will accept government involvement in its management and won't cap total compensation funds for those hurt by Japan's nuclear crisis, as part of an agreement for assistance in meeting what could total tens of billions of dollars in claims, The Wall Street Journal reported. Tepco said that company President Masataka Shimizu notified the government of its acceptance of the conditions Wednesday in a letter to industry minister Banri Kaieda.