Bull-Dog Sauce Co yesterday exercised Japan's first "poison pill" takeover defense to dilute the stake of a hostile bidder as it tries to fend off the advances of US fund Steel Partners.
Bull-Dog began the procedure to issue three equity warrants for each Bull-Dog share to existing shareholders in the aim of reducing the US investment fund's stake to 2.86 percent from 10.52 percent.
Steel Partners will be refused the right to exchange its equity warrants into new shares in the condiment maker, which will instead spend ?2.3 billion (18.9 million dollars) to buy back the warrants from the US fund.
"We are carrying out our plan orderly," a Bull-Dog spokesman said.
The move came a day after Steel Partners took its battle for control of the condiment maker to Japan's top court in an increasingly acrimonious battle seen as a test case on the legality of poison pill-style defense schemes.
Tokyo High Court Judge Satoru Fujimura on Monday described Steel Partners as an "abusive acquirer" in the latest slap in the face to the fund and its head Warren Lichtenstein, who has said he wants to "educate" Japanese managers.
Bull-Dog shares plunged by the daily loss limit of ?100 for a second consecutive day to trade at ?725 yesterday, down 12.12 percent from the previous close. Steel Partners is offering ?1,700 per share.
"Prospects diminished that the share price will rise as a takeover war escalates and shareholders sold because they were disappointed," said Toshihiko Matsuno, a senior analyst at SMBC Friend Securities.
"The other issue is the problem of dilution. The value of the company itself will not change but the value of one share will fall to one-quarter" of its previous value, he said.
Some experts believe that Steel Partners may revise its strategy in Japan, or even pull out altogether, unless it wins its appeal at the Supreme Court.
The fund has already suffered defeats in several previous buyout bids and the share prices of a range of companies in which the fund has invested have declined in the wake of Monday's high court ruling.
"With this case Steel Partners' standing has weakened and so I'm sure it will consider" possibly exiting Japan, Matsuno said.
Dozens of Japanese companies have been putting in place poison pill schemes they could exercise in the event of a hostile foreign takeover bid, which are still rare in Japan and seen as a ruthless, Western-style form of capitalism.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique