Hostile takeover defensive measures

Until recently it was extremely rare for Japanese listed companies to be exposed to threats of hostile takeover partly because of the longstanding practice (from the sixties to the eighties) of cross-shareholding between a Japanese industrial company and its main bank and also between Japanese industrial companies. After the collapse of the bubble economy in Japan during late eighties, however, the practice of cross-shareholding declined dramatically (it decreased by half from the nineties to the early 21st century), partly because faltering companies and banks rushed to sell off shares held by them, which resulted in increasing stock liquidity. This led to an environment where hostile acquirers could easily buy up shares of Japanese listed companies.

Dawn of the hostile takeover The tender offer for Shoei Co, Ltd by MAC (the Murakami Fund) in 2000 indicated the start of a new trend of hostile takeovers in Japan. Later, the attempted hostile takeover...