Hints and tips:
...Elliott Management is calling for Japan’s biggest property group, Mitsui Fudosan, to launch a ¥1tn ($6.8bn) share buyback as the US activist fund targets the most prestigious end of the Tokyo stock market...
...Francisco-based Mapbox, according to people close to SoftBank, is part of a push into AI that fulfils Son’s promise to go on the “counteroffensive” and has included discussions with multiple potential investment targets...
...Just two months later, DNP announced it would undertake the biggest share buyback in its 147-year history and set a return on equity target of 10 per cent....
...Activists, both foreign and domestic, see Japan’s equity market as being rich with targets: about half of companies are trading below their book value, and, according to analysts, more than a third of non-financials...
...leo.lewis@ft.com...
...“If the company does not find attractive acquisition targets, we think that management would release the excess cash back to shareholders in order to maintain and improve their capital efficiency, aiming...
...Amid a weaker yen, and given their high market shares in certain technologies, bankers say Japanese companies will increasingly become targets for acquisition....
...It comprises Screen Holdings, Advantest, Disco Corp, Tokyo Electron, the trading house Mitsubishi and automakers Toyota and Subaru....
...Nippon Steel has agreed to buy US Steel in a $14.9bn deal, as the Japanese group targets the American market with its largest-ever acquisition....
...Cara Lewis, chief investment officer at Dentsu, said “things can go viral” as a result of such campaigns....
Japanese company targets American market with its biggest-ever acquisition
...The target of 8,000 diplomats was calculated to raise Japan’s enhanced diplomatic corps from the bottom to the middle of that group by staffing....
...SoftBank paid $32bn to acquire Arm in 2016 but its latest target is below the $64bn valuation implied less than a month ago in a transaction with its own Vision Fund, the $100bn Saudi-backed investment vehicle...
...If the proxy fight goes ahead, it will be a test case for whether larger shareholders and proxy firms such as Glass Lewis will support single-issue campaigns that some believe are not tied to economic performance...
...Dame Sharon White, chair of John Lewis, this month called shoplifting an “epidemic” and the Co-op supermarket chain says repeated robberies could lead to some districts being blighted....
...That could cast doubt on the company’s target to shift more units of the PS5 than its predecessor, the PS4, which sold 100mn in six years....
..., shares in other speciality chemicals companies associated with the semiconductor manufacturing process — in particular Tokyo Ohka Kogyo — also rose significantly on speculation that it could become a target...
...is still technically “very tricky,” playing down the risk of the industry quickly converting to a technology on which its rival Microsoft has bet heavily, write the Financial Times’ Kana Inagaki and Leo Lewis...
...Sony plans to retain a stake of about 20 per cent and target a timeframe of two to three years for the listing....
...But the large roster is tacit admission that SoftBank needs some assistance to hit its targets. Arm is expected to seek a valuation of $60bn to $70bn....
...Smart reads Son under scrutiny Arm’s public listing has raised questions over SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son’s future strategy as well as his dealmaking history, the FT’s Leo Lewis writes....
...Banks are already circling SoftBank and Arm’s management for a role on its New York IPO, suggesting valuation targets between $30bn and $65bn, according to people familiar with the groups seeking to underwrite...
...Nabeel Bhanji said the fund welcomed DNP’s commitment to announce the largest share buyback in its history, accelerate the disposal of its cross-shareholdings and focus on increasing its return on equity target...
...But critics say the fast food company has been watering down its commitments on antibiotics use and recently published more limited targets....
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