Australian funds powerhouse pushes into Japan-focused shareholder activism: Pinnacle Investments acquires Asset Value Investors
Big news in the Japan shareholder activist and Australian asset management landscape that has likely flown under the radar. Ian Macoun’s ASX-listed Pinnacle Investment Management (ASX: PNI, A$4.2bn market cap) has acquired Asset Value Investors – one of the mid-sized Japan activists, and operator of the AJOT UK listed investment trust, via PNI’s subsidiary Pacific […]
Large activist fund playing key role in EQT & Bain’s ~US$4.4bn bidding war for Kakaku.com
The contest for Kakaku.com (TSE: 2371) has become the most instructive Japanese M&A situation of the year – both due to the scale of the deal – ¥700bn, but also because of the complex dynamics involving multiple large shareholders. We previously discussed the dynamics of the deal here: https://senjincap.com/private-equity-growth-continues-providing-ongoing-support-for-activist-exits/. The deal to mid-July Kakaku.com operates […]
Senjin’s shortlisted stocks demonstrate the compelling value on offer in small-cap Japan
Many investors newly allocating to Japanese equities tend to start with an index ETF or household-name large-cap stocks. Such stocks do indeed trade at a discount to what investors may be used to seeing in the US, but trade at massive premia to small-cap Japan. Senjin Capital sources its investment opportunities from within this low-priced […]
Is a stronger Yen just a matter of time?
At around 162 to the USD, the Yen is as weak as it has been against the USD since the 1980s. The general consensus is that the weakening trend is likely to continue. Reasons cited include Japan’s falling competitiveness due to a lack of productivity growth and increasing overcapacity in Chinese industry – resulting in […]
Private Equity growth continues, providing ongoing support for activist exits
A recent Nikkei article 2 highlighted the ongoing growth in private equity transactions in Japan, supported by a number of new entrants to the market, other firms returning after a long absence, and large new fundraisings. Bain Capital’s gigantic US$15bn estimated profit on its Kioxia deal can only add to investor demand for Japanese PE […]
Symbiosis Between Shareholder Activism and Private Equity in Japan
How Public Market Activists are Making Privatisation a More Attractive Option for Undervalued Companies Japan’s market for corporate control is changing. For decades, many listed Japanese companies were able to remain public despite low returns on equity, inefficient balance sheets, limited investor communication and little obvious need for public market capital. Shareholders had rights on […]
Jamie interviewed in The Inside Adviser
You can read the full article by clicking here, but we have included a couple of quotes below: “When Jamie Halse first pitched the idea of a Japan small-cap activism fund to his then-employer Platinum Asset Management in 2016, the concept may have been ahead of its time or simply waiting for the structural conditions […]
The corporate reform genie will not go back in the bottle
More than a decade of corporate governance reform has driven major change in Japan’s stock market. Cross-shareholdings are unwinding, capital is flowing into activist funds, take-private transactions are growing rapidly, and even unsolicited takeover bids are no longer taboo. As activist funds grow and increasingly take on larger, more powerful corporates, it was somewhat inevitable […]
Kioxia’s stock option plan – could this catalyse widespread adoption?
Kioxia’s stock option plan value per participating employee is WILD thanks to the AI boom. There has been a lot of news flow around memory makers SK Hynix and Samsung paying ~US$400k bonuses to each employee, but Kioxia’s potential ESOP windfall could dwarf those amounts for participating employees. Kioxia was bought by Bain Capital, which […]
Private Equity Bidding Wars Hit Japan’s Mainstream
As the number of take private deals in Japan continues to grow, the nature of some of those deals is undergoing a tectonic shift. What we are witnessing in some cases is the dismantling of traditional, friendly, and often under-priced transactions agreed between management and a PE fund, in favour of a more raw, Western-style […]