[R-P] Japón: basta de fusiones con empresas extranjeras

[Nestor Gorojovsky]

[Una lección que nos dan los japoneses.  Ni terroristas, ni 
populistas, ni comunistas.  Sencillamente, patriotas.

Traduzco los primeros párrafos, que lo explican todo.]

Japan decidido a endurecer las reglas de fusión de stocks

Las compañías extranjeras tendrían que obtener la aprobación de más 
del 50 por ciento de los accionistas, en votación nominal
Por David Ibison en Tokyo 
Financial Times, November 21, 2005 

Las nuevas reglas que está analizando Japón harían casi imposibles 
las fusiones totales con compañías extranjeras, al revés de lo 
prometido por el gobierno (liberalizar el mercado para la inversión 
extranjera directa).

Según las nuevas reglas propuestas, si una empresa extranjera lleva a 
cabo una transacción acción por acciónrce a asegurarse una 
"resolución super-extraordinaria"  de los accionistas del grupo que 
se desea adquirir;  deberá obtener la aprobación de más del 50 por 
ciento de los accionistas, en voto nominal.

Si una institución detenta el 75% de la compañía japonesa en 
cuestión, y 1000 pequeños accionistas son propietarios del resto,  
hay que conseguir 500 aprobaciones por más que el accionista del 75% 
esté de acuerdo.  La mayoría de las empresas japonesas tienen una 
base de accionistas muy fragmentada, con lo cual las posibilidades de 
asegurarse la aprobación de más del 50% de los accionistas son, según 
los expertos, inalcanzables.

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Tue, 22 Nov 2005 14:08:21 -0800
From:           	Sabri Oncu <soncu en pacbell.net>
Subject:        	[A-List] The demise of neoliberalisation
To:             	a-list en lists.econ.utah.edu
Send reply to:  	The A-List <a-list en lists.econ.utah.edu>

[ Double-click this line for list subscription options ] 

Japan set to tighten stock merger rules 

Foreign companies would need to seek approval from over 50 per cent 
of
shareholders by headcount By David Ibison in Tokyo FT, November 21,
2005 

Japan is considering new rules that would make it almost impos-sible
for foreign companies to conduct all-stock mergers with Japanese
companies, reversing a government pledge to liberalise the market for
foreign direct investment. 

The proposed new rules would force a foreign company conduct-ing a
share-for-share transaction to secure a "super extraordinary
resolution" from the target group's shareholders, requiring approval
from more than 50 per cent of shareholders by head-count. 

This would mean that if one institution holds 75 per cent of the
Japanese company being tar-geted and 1,000 small sharehold-ers hold
the remaining 25 per cent, even if the 75 per cent shareholder
approves the deal, another 500 approvals must be obtained. Most
Japanese companies had a highly fragmented shareholder base making 
the
chances of securing approval from more than 50 per cent of
shareholders almost impossible, experts said. 

In addition, the proposals would force any foreign company looking to
conduct an all-stock transaction to obtain a secondary listing in
Japan before doing so. "This is a strong disincentive,"said Casper
Lawson, a partner at Linklaters, the law firm. "It is possible to get
a secondary list-ing, but by global standards it is very unusual." 

The proposed changes, being considered by the justice minis-try as
part of regulations imple-menting Japan's new Company Law, are the
latest chapter in a controversy surrounding share-for-share
transactions that culmi-nated in last year's decision to delay the
introduction of such deals by 12 months to next May. 

It was claimed that decision was taken to allow Japanese companies
time to protect them-selves against aggressive foreign companies, 
even
though share-for-share deals are rarely hostile as they require the
consent of the target company's shareholders. Experts said it now
appeared Japan was considering introduc-ing new hurdles to prevent
cross border share-for-share deals. "Clearly, its protectionism," 
said
one market professional. 

M&A bankers said the pro-posed restrictions penalise poten-tially
friendly foreign merger partners for Japanese companies but leave the
door open for Japa-nese-led hostile deals. 

All of the truly hostile deals in Japan in the past 12 months have
been Japanese affairs, such as the bid by Livedoor, the internet
company, for Fuji Television. 

The proposed new rules contra-dicted a pledge by Junichiro Koi-zumi,
Japan's prime minister, in his policy speech before parlia-ment in
2003 to double foreign direct investment into Japan by 2008 by
liberalising the environ-ment for FDI, bankers said. 

The majority of FDI flows into Japan are M&A related and moves to
permit share-for-share transactions were considered a vital part of
achieving Mr Koi-zumi's goal. "It is no exaggeration to say that if
this single measure ends up eviscerated and unusable, Japan's FDI
policy will be little more than a joke," said one foreign market
professional. 

The proposals are due to be released for consideration at the end of
this month.


------- End of forwarded message -------

Este correo lo ha enviado
Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
nestorgoro en fibertel.com.ar
[No necesariamente es su autor]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 
"La patria tiene que ser la dignidad arriba y el regocijo abajo".
Aparicio Saravia
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _