Japan Investment Corp. Chief Yokoo Named TEPCO Chairman

Tokyo, April 30 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Thursday that it has appointed Keisuke Yokoo, president of government-affiliated Japan Investment Corp., as its new chairman. He will take office after being approved at TEPCO’s annual general shareholders meeting in June, succeeding its current chairman, Yoshimitsu Kobayashi. Yokoo, 74, will be the fifth person in a row to serve as TEPCO chairman from outside the power supplier and the first from the financial industry. TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa, 62, will stay in office and work with Yokoo to rebuild the company, whose Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan experienced a triple reactor meltdown after suffering heavy damage from the tsunami unleashed by a powerful earthquake that struck in March 2011. Kobayashi, 79, who became chairman in 2021, will step down in June. At a press conference Thursday, Kobayashi said, “Now is a good time (for me to step down),” citing recent developments such as the restart of the No. 6 reactor at TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, on April 16 after a hiatus of about 14 years. He said at the same time, however, that “it will take time” for the company to achieve drastic reforms, such as overhauling its corporate culture. Corporate reforms “still remain a challenge,” Kobayashi added. TEPCO is seeking a business partner company, including accepting capital, under its new reconstruction program announced in January. The power supplier needs a massive amount of funds to cover compensation related to the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 plant and costs for the decommissioning of the plant’s reactors. Despite the reactivation of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No. 6 reactor, the company’s financial condition remains severe. Japanese mobile phone carrier SoftBank Corp. and domestic and foreign investment funds have expressed willingness to cooperate with TEPCO. Yokoo, who has expertise in corporate rehabilitation and financing, is expected to draw up a partnership strategy to help promote the rebuilding of TEPCO. Kobayashi said that Yokoo is “the most appropriate person to lead and realize TEPCO’s structural reforms, including the envisaged tie-up.” Yokoo joined Industrial Bank of Japan, now Mizuho Bank, in 1974. He became president of Mizuho Securities Co. in 2007 and its chairman in 2011, and then JIC president in 2019. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]