Japan: Steel Partners urges Sapporo shareholders to reject defence
Hedge fund Steel Partners, which is attempting to take over Japanese brewer Sapporo Holdings, urged Sapporo shareholders to reject their company's defence against hostile takeovers, Reuters reported March 12.
The fund in January proposed Sapporo to abolish its defence scheme, saying such measures should be approved by shareholders. The scheme allows the brewer to issue equity warrants if an unwanted bidder buys 20 percent of its stock.
Following the proposal, the maker of Black Label and Yebisu beer said it would ask its shareholders to approve a modified defence scheme on March 29. The modified version differs only slightly from the original scheme, which was adopted last year. For example, Sapporo will have 60 days or less to consider offers from bidders under the new scheme, instead of 60 days or 90 days under the old one.
"The fund believes this advance warning system would adversely affect shareholder value and insulate the company's board from the fundamental accountability to shareholders by providing the board with enhanced ability to delay or prevent takeover bids or tender offers, even when shareholders might favorably view such bids," Steel Partners said in a statement.
Sapporo has said it would use the current defence against any potential bid by Steel Partners and has asked the fund for more information on its plans for the brewer. Steel Partners said in February it may launch a tender offer to raise its stake in Sapporo to two-thirds from 18.6 percent.
Sapporo shares ended up 3.1 percent at 862 yen, 4.5 percent higher than Steel Partners' offer price of 825 yen apiece. The share price was helped by the company's announcement earlier that its overall beer shipments rose 9.9 percent in February from a year earlier, their first year-on-year rise in 10 months.
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