Japan’s ruling party has raised concerns over suspected collusion between activist investors and private equity funds in take-private deals, warning that such arrangements could undermine fairness in capital markets.
Concerns Over Corporate Governance
In draft policy proposals, the Liberal Democratic Party’s project team on corporate governance said that there have been some cases in which activists are suspected of working behind the scenes with private equity funds seeking to take listed companies private.
Such cases ‘raise concerns from the perspectives of both enhancing corporate value and legal fairness’, the group said in the proposals, which would be finalized by the end of this month.
The Japan Private Equity Association declined to comment. Private equity deals in Japan jumped 47.8% last year to $42 billion, according to Dealogic.
The proposals included tightening the criteria for shareholders to call for extraordinary meetings and submit shareholder proposals, as well as restricting shareholder proposals on matters related to management execution.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
