Angry Pickens Stalks Out of Koito Session

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens Jr. angrily stalked out of a shareholders meeting today after the auto parts company he is trying to penetrate emphatically rejected his overtures.

Earlier, Pickens and 52 American shareholders of his private investment firm, Boone Co., marched into a luxury hotel near the headquarters of Koito Manufacturing Co. for the company’s annual shareholders meeting.

Three hours later Pickens left in a huff before the vote on his proposal for seats on the board of Koito’s directors.

“It was a sham, an absolute farce. Here today, Koito completely showed the world what it’s all about in corporate Japan,” he said.

He charged that corporate Japan is a “closed system” because Koito managers wouldn’t answer his questions.

“If that kind of meeting was in the United States, I’m telling you, they’d put them all in jail. It’s a lousy deal.”

At the meeting, Boone and others of his entourage asked a number of questions but in some cases were not answered.

Koito President Takao Matsuuda, for instance, did not fully reply when asked why Pickens was not wanted on the board, though Matsuuda insisted that it was not merely because Pickens is an American.

The meeting continued after Pickens and his fellow investors stalked out.

Pickens said he will go to Washington and to the Houston summit next month of the seven industrialized democracies “and we’re going to tell it just like it is.”

Boone Co. holds the largest block--26%--of Koito’s 160 million outstanding shares. Pickens and his colleagues are seeking seats on the firm’s board of directors and other changes in its management policies that they say are needed to protect their rights as shareholders.

The debate between Pickens and Koito has come to symbolize for many Americans the difficulties faced by U.S. investors in Japan at a time when many Japanese companies are buying up American companies and real estate.

But more than that, the debate represents the fundamental differences between the way Japanese and U.S. businessmen operate and how they accumulate wealth.

It is also a case that has been pointed to frequently by U.S. negotiators in their efforts to reduce the massive U.S. global trade deficit, and has inspired legislation to restrict investment in the United States to those nations that do not provide reciprocal access in their markets.