J-Eurus Founding Partners Announce New Global Corporate Governance Programfor Japanese Companies.
– J-Eurus partners and Sodali, Ltd. will provide services in corporate governance,board evaluation, shareholder engagement and strategic advice to Japanesecompanies.

Tokyo – 25 July, 2012. J-Eurus Investor Relations today released details of anenhanced corporate governance service package for Japanese companies that its
founding partners, Yoshiko Iwata and Yoshiko Takayama, have developed inconjunction with Sodali, Ltd., a leading global consultancy based in Europe.
Ms. Iwata, President of J-Eurus IR, said that many of the firm’s clients have been
asking for governance advice in response to reforms introduced by Japan’s Ministryof Finance and the Tokyo Stock Exchange during last few years.
“In addition to these regulatory pressures, many of our clients are concerned about
the decline in cross-shareholdings among Japanese companies and the growing
skepticism among global institutional investors about Japanese equities,” Ms. Iwata
said.
Ms. Takayama, J-Eurus Managing Director, noted that problems involving a few
high-profile companies had a broad negative impact on the Japanese financial
market and had increased foreign investors’ fears about risk and fraud. “Japanesecompanies must work aggressively to restore global confidence,” she said.

The Corporate Governance Program for Japan includes the following services:• Corporate governance benchmarking and perception studies based on
global and local best practice and legal standards;• Board evaluation;• Research and strategic consultation on corporate governance, director
responsibilities and shareholder rights;• Institutional investor outreach, engagement and road shows;• Preparation and conduct of annual meetings;• Disclosure policy and communication with shareholders, proxy advisory
firms and activist investors;• Information Agent services related to mergers and acquisitions, takeovers
and other extraordinary transactions

Ms. Iwata said that the new governance program differs from the firm’s traditional
investor relations and communication activities in two ways: (1) it brings into
financial communications important new information relating to environmental
practices, social policy and corporate governance (ESG) and (2) it expands thetargeted investor audience to include decision-makers responsible for governance,
share voting and stewardship and ESG investors in addition to securities analysts
and portfolio managers. Ms. Iwata said that this broader “holistic” approach toInvestor Relations has been developed by Sodali for its clients in Europe and Latin
America during the past few years.

2Ms. Iwata said that Japanese companies have always supported voluntary, private
sector initiatives rather than legislation or regulation to improve market practices. It
is reported that the revised Companies Act in Japan will not include mandatory
requirement of independent directors, but regardless of the regulation, someJapanese issuers are improving their governance to differentiate themselves andattract investors. Accordingly, she believes that Japanese companies will welcome
the opportunity to privately benchmark their ESG practices, conduct internal
discussions about the merits of global standards and introduce appropriate changes
at their own pace in coordination with their business strategy. “Japanese companies
prefer to work quietly out of the limelight,” she said, “and our new service will
enable them to do so.”The governance program also introduces enhanced annual meeting services andcapabilities to facilitate the collection of votes from overseas shareholders. “Theannual meeting is a high-profile public event that highlights corporate governanceissues,” Ms. Iwata said. “The goal of our service is to help Japanese companies
manage shareholder expectations around the meeting, clarify misperceptions about
governance and avoid undue media attention.”
Ms. Takayama said that she and Ms. Iwata have chosen to work with Sodali becauseof the firm’s global profile and its expertise in corporate governance, shareholder
engagement, board-level advisory work and cross-border share voting.
Ms. Takayama also mentioned three specific considerations in their decision to workwith Sodali in Japan: “First, Sodali works exclusively for companies and not fordissidents. Second, their rigorous Code of Business Conduct ensures strict3

confidentiality and protects our clients from conflicts of interest. Third, Sodali
promotes the European ‘principles-based’ governance system that we believe isbest suited to Japanese companies, which are generally less comfortable with therigid U.S. ‘rules-based’ governance model.”Ms. Takayama noted that Sodali Chairman John Wilcox has been working withJapanese companies for more than 20 years, including during his years as Head ofCorporate Governance at TIAA-CREF, the giant U.S. retirement system that owns
shares of many Japanese companies.

About J-Eurus
J-Eurus IR Co., Ltd. is an independent consulting firm founded in Japan in 2000 by pioneering Investor
Relations practitioners for the purpose of helping Japanese companies deal with the global challenges ofcorporate governance and relations with shareholders and investors. The firm’s founders participate inmajor domestic and international organizations on matters of governance and the capital markets,
including the Tokyo Stock Exchange Best Disclosure Companies Selection Board and the International
Corporate Governance Network Board of Governors. J-Eurus is a thought leader on these issues in Japanand helps bring the Japanese perspective to other financial markets.

About Sodali (http://www.sodali.com)
Sodali is an international consultancy and service provider that has achieved prominence as a leader in
corporate governance, the development of institutional investor relations, the management of shareholdermeetings and the mechanics of cross-border share voting. The firm’s mission of “aligning interests” isbased on the conviction that a company’s governance and business strategy should work together to serve
the long-term economic interests of the enterprise and its stakeholders. In addition to its assignments withsome of the world’s largest publicly-traded corporations, Sodali also works extensively with developing
market companies, family-owned businesses, mutual companies and state-owned enterprises. The firm isbased in Rome, with offices in Athens, Geneva, London, Madrid, Milan, New York, Paris and representatives
in other financial centers around the world.

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