Makiko Yamazaki

(Reuters) – A Toshiba (OTC) Corp independent director reacted to the public stance of the board on Thursday by saying he will support a resolution at the extraordinary shareholder meeting next week that could open the door for a possible buyout.

American Raymond Zage is a former Goldman Sachs hedge fund manager and banker (NYSE:) and this marks the latest chapter in a long-running fight between the 146 years-old Japanese conglomerate with its numerous foreign shareholders.

Farallon Capital Management (USA), where Zage is a former managing Director, joined the chorus of investors opposing Zage’s proposal to split off its devices company.

Zage stated in a statement that he will vote for the resolution requested by the extraordinary meeting of March 24, asking the company to investigate further the possibility of a takeover. Toshiba’s board stated that they oppose the resolution.

According to him, “It shouldn’t take long nor be time-consuming to obtain preliminary bid indicators and that shareholders could receive some additional information for purposes of comparing potential privatisations with the potential values of the proposed spinoff plan.”

Toshiba did not immediately comment on Zage’s statement.

Satoshi Tsunakawa, Toshiba’s CEO, has resigned. This sudden resignation came after sources claimed that the plans to dissolve the company had caused divisions and anger among shareholders.

Zage stated that he believes he is one of 100 top shareholders of the company, and owns more shares than all the senior managers combined.