Don't fill C-suite with Japan Tobacco alumni, Hong Kong fund says

TOKYO -- A Hong Kong-based activist hedge fund is pushing Japanese drugmaker Torii Pharmaceutical to ban accepting executives from parent Japan Tobacco, Nikkei learned Friday.

The proposed end to the practice, known as amakudari, or "descent from heaven,"  is one of six proposals submitted by LIM Advisors. LIM, which is believed to hold less than a 10% stake in Torii, also calls for increasing dividends and share buybacks to make better use of what it considers an excessive capital cushion.