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29-03-2017, 02:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-05-2017, 02:20 PM by cyclone.
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From Silk to Bees and Underwear, 144-Year-Old Firm Pushed to Reinvent Itself Again
by Lisa Pham , Yuko Takeo , and Nao Sano
March 29, 2017, 6:00 AM GMT+8
Katakura Industries Co., a Japanese company founded more than a century ago, is no stranger to reinvention. Once a silk producer, it has diversified into making underwear, manufacturing fire engines, operating shopping malls and even bee-keeping.
Now, activist hedge fund Oasis Management Co. is pushing Katakura to reinvent itself yet again -- this time by ditching businesses that don’t meet certain profit targets. The Hong Kong-based fund, which owns a 3 percent stake in Katakura, says the diversity of ventures isn’t sustainable and has put forward three proposals aimed at improving profitability at this week’s shareholder meeting in Tokyo.
These proposals promise to shake up the status quo at Katakura, where tradition reigns and new employees visit its former red brick silk factory, which is now heritage listed, as part of their induction into the company. Katakura will be another test case for Japan’s progress on corporate reforms under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Activists have scored some victories of late, with New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb spurring a restructuring plan at Seven & i Holdings Co. in October and winning the resignation of the chief executive officer.
“Our company is an old company, founded 144 years ago,” Kenichi Mizusawa, planning department general manager at Katakura, said in an interview in Tokyo this month. The company has decried Oasis’s suggestions as “extremely short-term.”
“We can’t suddenly kill things off completely,” Mizusawa said.
More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...r-old-firm
by Lisa Pham , Yuko Takeo , and Nao Sano
March 29, 2017, 6:00 AM GMT+8
Katakura Industries Co., a Japanese company founded more than a century ago, is no stranger to reinvention. Once a silk producer, it has diversified into making underwear, manufacturing fire engines, operating shopping malls and even bee-keeping.
Now, activist hedge fund Oasis Management Co. is pushing Katakura to reinvent itself yet again -- this time by ditching businesses that don’t meet certain profit targets. The Hong Kong-based fund, which owns a 3 percent stake in Katakura, says the diversity of ventures isn’t sustainable and has put forward three proposals aimed at improving profitability at this week’s shareholder meeting in Tokyo.
These proposals promise to shake up the status quo at Katakura, where tradition reigns and new employees visit its former red brick silk factory, which is now heritage listed, as part of their induction into the company. Katakura will be another test case for Japan’s progress on corporate reforms under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Activists have scored some victories of late, with New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb spurring a restructuring plan at Seven & i Holdings Co. in October and winning the resignation of the chief executive officer.
“Our company is an old company, founded 144 years ago,” Kenichi Mizusawa, planning department general manager at Katakura, said in an interview in Tokyo this month. The company has decried Oasis’s suggestions as “extremely short-term.”
“We can’t suddenly kill things off completely,” Mizusawa said.
More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...r-old-firm
Specuvestor: Asset - Business - Structure.