Steel Partners: Hedge Fund Activism in Japan

Published 22 Feb 2010
Reference 5622
Industry Private Equity
Region Asia
Length 28 page(s)
Summary

Activist hedge fund Steel Partners entered Japan to take major stakes in underperforming companies and actively press for corporate changes. But seven years later its takeover attempts remain unsuccessful, thwarted by poison-pill defences and cross-shareholdings. Whether corporate governance as a strategy could work in Japan looks increasingly questionable.

Teaching objectives

The case can be used to discuss how hedge funds use corporate governance as a strategy, the state of corporate governance in Japan, the defences used by companies against takeovers, associated agency problems, and the cost to shareholders.

Keywords
  • Corporate governance
  • Hedge funds
  • Shareholder activism
  • Investment strategy
  • Information asymmetries
  • Poison pill
  • takeover defenses
  • Corporate Governance
  • Investors, Stakeholders and Accountability