Nippon Paper Moves into Hokuetsu Battle
The fight for Hokuetsu Paper continues to ramp up. Now Nippon Paper has taken an 9% stake in the embattled company, as it strives to stave off Oji's quest to become the first Nikkei 225 firm to complete a hostile takeover of a listed company. Together with Mitsubishi's 24% stake in Hokuetsu, shareholders adverse to Oji may wind up with more than one-third of Hokuetsu's voting rights, which would allow them to reject crucial decisions at shareholders' meetings.

The spectacle of Japan's blue-chip firms engaging in M&A practices typical in America but rare in Japan is starting to generate interesting commentary. William Pesek Jr. at Bloomberg's argues we may be seeing the start of an M&A explosion in Japan, which would make the economy much more efficient and also raise stock prices. On the other hand, with management creating roadblocks for a plan which ticks all the right boxes for Hokuetsu shareholders, it appears we're also witnessing a very traditional Japanese reaction to unfriendly corporate advances.