Matsushita Puts 3 Top Japanese Executives on MCA Committee

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. has appointed three of its top Japanese officers to a five-member executive committee that will oversee the company’s newly acquired MCA Inc. unit.

Matsushita said it named Executive Vice Presidents Masahiko Hirata and Tsuzo Murase to the committee, along with Senior Managing Director Keiya Toyonaga. MCA Chairman Lew R. Wasserman and President Sidney J. Sheinberg were also appointed to the newly structured committee.

Hirata and Toyonaga negotiated Matsushita’s purchase of MCA for $6.59 billion earlier this year. Murase is in charge of the Japanese company’s vast engineering and manufacturing facilities.

Last week, Matsushita added 12 directors to MCA’s board, which previously had 11 members. All of MCA’s prior directors remain part of the new, 23-member board.