According to the Nikkei Asian Review, as of March this year, Harvard University Endowment Fund, one of Toshiba's major shareholders, sold Toshiba shares.

These shares were acquired by an activist investor in Singapore, who voted against Toshiba President Nobuaki Kurumatani and others at the 2020 shareholders meeting. The tension between shareholders and the current management team may now increase further.

The Harvard fund sold its Toshiba stock to asset management company 3D Investment Partners. According to a large equity report submitted by the company to the Kanto Local Finance Bureau on April 2, it acquired a 4.7% stake in Toshiba from the market on March 29. The seller did not disclose, but according to a number of people familiar with the matter, 3D Investment Partners acquired shares of Toshiba from Harvard Fund.

As of May 2020, 3D Investment Partners is Toshiba's fifth largest shareholder. Through this acquisition, its stake in Toshiba will rise to 7.2%, becoming the second largest shareholder. Toshiba's largest shareholder is still another Singapore investment fund Effissimo Capital Management, which owns 9.9% of Toshiba. There is an open conflict between Effissimo and the current management team.

3D also has differences with Toshiba on capital policy and management appointments. At the 2020 shareholders meeting, 3D voted against the proposal to elect Kurumatani as its president.

Due to opposition from 3D and other companies, only 57.96% of shareholders support Kurumatani's appointment. The Harvard Fund did not exercise voting rights at the shareholders meeting. 3D later asked Toshiba to investigate the possibility that some voting rights were not properly handled, but the results of the shareholders meeting remained unchanged. It was later revealed that Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, which manages the general meeting of shareholders, mishandled some voting rights.

Reuters reported that Hiromichi Mizuno, then a Japanese government adviser, told the Harvard Fund that if it voted against the company's management at the meeting, it might be subject to regulatory investigations. Toshiba said in February that an internal investigation found no evidence that the company was involved in putting pressure on the Harvard Fund.

British investment fund CVC Capital Partners put forward a proposal to privatize Toshiba. As 3D becomes an increasingly influential shareholder, its views on the CVC acquisition proposal will become an important focus.