There has never been a more popular time to be an activist investor in Japan.
For activists, the country has always been seen as fertile but dangerous ground, full of cash-rich companies trading at extreme discounts. But for years a closed-off business community resisted outsiders, turning the strategy into an exercise in frustration.
That has changed as the government and the Tokyo Stock Exchange have joined forces to push Japan’s corporate sector to pay more attention to shareholder returns. International hedge funds like Elliott Management and domestic investors like Strategic Capital have made the country the world’s second-largest market for activists, surpassed only by the United States.
