BusinessWeek online on Japan's Most Talked about Corporate Raider, Yoshiaki Murakami (EWJ, ITF, VPL)
For those remaining skeptics of Japan's economy and the current recovery, here is another reason why you ought to give Japanese stocks a chance. Enter Yoshiaki Murakami, the most discussed and most active corporate raider in Japan. A former Trade Ministry bureaucrat, he has created two investment companies -- M&A Consulting and MAC Asset Management Inc. -- that the financial media watches like a hawk. Murakami typically goes after "stodgy" and underperforming companies and turns them into "gold mines."
BusinessWeek online has a story on Murakami due out in the November 14th edition of BusinessWeek. Even though some readers may be unfamiliar with some of the companies mentioned in the piece, I highly recommend you read it and get a feel for just how much Japan has changed and continues to change for the better. The article also sheds light on the promising road ahead both for Japanese companies and shareholders.
M&A activity remains robust in Japan and will continue to be as the government works on revising its policies. Shareholders have gained in so many ways in 2005 following the market's upturn: activism is at an all-time high and companies are increasing dividends, buying back shares, and actually listening to shareholder concerns. For those companies that are not, beware of Murakami and rival raiders. I personally have watched special news features on Japanese TV documenting how the so-called "stodgy" firms are fearful of being taken over and are desperate to change their ways.
Here is a small excerpt:
After three years of relatively low-profile investments, Murakami is back in the limelight. This time he is showing how deregulation, an economic recovery, and a soaring stock market can turn cash-rich, stodgy Japanese companies into gold mines for daring, reform-minded investors like himself. Murakami is at the forefront of a budding shareholder activism movement that is finally starting to pay off. Investors have long been considered second-class citizens in Japan Inc.
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