Change is coming – but not in a rush
HOSTILE TAKEOVERS ARE hardly life-changing events for investment bankers but Oji Paper’s aggressive bid for rival Hokuetsu Paper Mills in July 2006, arguably Japan’s first ever hostile takeover attempt, was different.
“It was one of the most exciting days of my life,” says the head of M&A at a US bulge-bracket bank, “I really thought it would be the start of hostile bids in Japan.”
Alas for bankers in the Tokyo M&A departments of other global investment banks, it was not to be. Within weeks, Hokuetsu had outmanoeuvred Oji Paper simply by selling blocking stakes to Mitsubishi Corporation and Nippon Paper: deals that had no industrial logic but effectively scuppered the Oji Paper deal.
“It’s very hard to orchestrate a successful hostile bid in Japan,” says John Ozeki, head of M&A...
