(Bloomberg) — Dai Nippon Printing Co. said that Elliott Investment Management looks to have substantially reduced its position in the company, less than two years after the activist fund bought a stake. The news sent its share price down.
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“There’s a possibility that they hold our shares under different names, but our understanding is that their holding now is almost non-existent,” said an investment relations official at Dai Nippon Printing. Elliott declined to comment in an emailed response to questions from Bloomberg.
A half-yearly report filed by Dai Nippon Printing this month showed two Elliott-related entities — Elliott International LP and the Liverpool Limited Partnership — were not among its top 10 shareholders as of Sept. 30.
Six months earlier, Elliott International held almost 6.5 million shares, or 2.70% of the company, while Liverpool Limited Partnership had just over 3 million shares, or around 1.3% of the total.
Its shares fell as much as 1.3% at 12:55pm Tokyo time when trading resumed after the lunch break.
Dai Nippon Printing, which is increasingly drawing its revenue from products for electric-vehicle batteries, OLED and chips, announced a large share buyback program in March last year, less than two months after Elliott’s stake was reported.
Elliott praised the decision and the announcement led to a jump in the company’s share price.
The stock has risen almost 80% from its level just before Elliott’s stake was first reported, surpassing gains of less than 40% in the Topix index during the same period. The price-to-book ratio briefly rose above 1 from around 0.6 before the Elliott stake was first reported. It last stood around 0.9.
Elliott has been active in Japan this year, investing in Tokyo Gas Co., Sumitomo Corp., SoftBank Group Corp. and Mitsui Fudosan Co.
Its aggressive investment strategy reflects rising shareholder activism in Japan, as the government and the Tokyo Stock Exchange have been putting pressure on companies to pay heed to investors’ perspectives.
–With assistance from Ken McCallum.
(Updates with chart, share price move)
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