News

26/06/2007

GO expands to Japan

Governance for Owners (GO), the share owner advocacy partnership established by
former Hermes directors Peter Butler and Steve Brown, announces today that
senior Japanese governance expert Toshiaki Oguchi will become a partner and
head up its Japanese operations. GO will open an office in Tokyo in September
2007 to be fully operational for the 2008 Japanese proxy season.

Toshiaki Oguchi has more than 20 years business experience in Japan, U.S. and U.K. and has held a number of different roles, mostly in the corporate planning and
product development, for Nippon Life and Nissay Asset Management. He first
worked with Peter Butler and Michelle Edkins when he was seconded by Nissay
Asset Management to Hermes Investment Management in London in 2002/03. In
that time he worked as a Corporate Governance Manager for Asia-Pacific. On his
return to Japan, Toshiaki joined Nissay Asset Management’s corporate governance
committee and the decision-making group of its Japanese corporate governance
fund. He was also responsible for marketing investment products to non-Japanese
institutional investors. Toshiaki is a member of several corporate governance
networking groups in Japan and internationally and an active participant in the
governance debate. He will join GO in September allowing him to hand over his
current duties in an orderly manner.

Peter Butler, CEO of GO, “Toshi has a unique combination of governance skills
spanning best practice in both Europe and Japan. This allows him to represent
non-Japanese institutions’ investments in Japanese companies with an unparalleled understanding of the issues. His knowledge of the wider investment context supports GO’s enhanced-value approach to intelligent voting and governance. He is a great addition to GO’s team.”

ENDS

For further information contact:

Peter Butler, Governance for Owners, 020 7614 4750
Michelle Edkins, Governance for Owners, 020 7614 4750
Mani Pillai, Penrose, 020 7786 4814

Notes to Editors:

1. Governance for Owners (GO) is an independent partnership between major financial institutions, shareowners and executives dedicated to adding long-term value for clients by exercising owners’ rights. There are two main product offerings. The GO European Focus Fund, which invests in European public companies where value can be added through making use of ownership rights. The GO Stewardship Services offers intelligent voting and engagement on quoted companies in Europe, the US, Japan, and South East Asia.