Steel Partners Seek Two-Thirds of Sapporo

Following its attempt last November to take over Myojo Foods, Steel Partners now seeks to raise its stake in Sapporo Holdings, the well-known brewery and foods company, to 66.6% from its current 17.5%. Sapporo management has warned it will try to stave off the bid. Last year, it introduced anti-takeover measures that will allow it to dilute its stock to rebuff a hostile bid seeking more than 20 percent of voting rights.

Besides Myojo, Steel Partners has also targeted fast-food chain Mos Food Services Inc. and Brother Industries Ltd., the maker of copiers and inkjet printers. 日経, Bloomberg

UPDATE 2/16/07
As Sapporo stock's price surged more than 12% to Y891, talk swirled about Sapporo possibly tying up with other large beverage makers, most notably Asahi and Kirin. A tie-up with either firm would give the combined company more than 50% of the beer market.

This Reuters article has a lot of information about the recent developments and the companies involved, including one historical factoid I did not know: Asahi and Sapporo were a single firm in the early 20th century.