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February 22, 2025
 

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ACQUISITIONS

The scramble to take Fuji Soft private is rooted in the value of the software company’s trove of human resources and real estate.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2025
KKR wins control of $4.4 billion Fuji Soft after Bain clash
KKR aims to acquire the remaining shares in the software company through a squeeze-out process.
With mergers and acquisitions reaching a record of more than $230 billion last year in Japan, and activists exerting greater influence on corporate Japan, investors from Sparx Asset Management to UBP Investments and Sigmoid Capital are becoming warier of nonearnings factors that may boost shares.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 20, 2025
Activist boom in Japan is upending long-short stock strategies
Japan’s percentage of short-selling to total trades is at the lowest since July last year, in terms of the 60-day moving average.
Resonac Holdings CEO Hidehito Takahashi
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2025
Resonac explores deal structures for possible JSR takeover
A deal would be a key step in the chemicals maker’s ambition to corner the Japanese artificial intelligence semiconductor materials market.
Sapporo beer
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 18, 2025
Activist fund criticizes Sapporo after ‘acquisition failures’
The Singapore-based investment fund censured the management over "impairment losses on all of its overseas alcoholic beverage acquisitions.”
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida holds a news conference last week, rejecting Honda's proposal to make the company a subsidiary.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 18, 2025
Nissan shares rally on report talks with Honda could be reopened
The Japanese auto giants said last week they had scrapped plans to join forces.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that the situation surrounding Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel has improved under U.S. President Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 18, 2025
Ishiba questions the politics of Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel deal rejection
The "unjust political interference” was difficult to understand, the prime minister said, but he indicated that the situation has improved under Trump.
Bain Capital said in a statement on Monday that it won’t implement a tender offer for Fuji Soft after deciding not to increase the price.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 17, 2025
Bain ends tussle with KKR for Fuji Soft by giving up bid
The public battle underscored how quickly the private equity landscape has been changing in Japan.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House in Washington on Feb. 7.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2025
U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel were blindsided by Trump investment talk
The proposed investment following Donald Trump's meeting with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba wasn’t communicated to either of the steelmakers beforehand.
The U.S. Steel Mon Valley Works Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2025
Nippon Steel wants 100% of U.S. Steel, not a minority stake, report says
Last week, the deal appeared effectively dead after a meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. Steel workers rally outside the company's headquarters in Pittsburgh in support of the takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel back in September.
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2025
The Nippon Steel deal’s lessons for the world
Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s stiff opposition to the deal may have created space, if not impetus, for President Donald Trump to resurrect the acquisition.
Following weeks of talks after Nissan Motor President Makoto Uchida and Honda President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe's December announcement of a possible merger, the two automakers confirmed on Thursday that the deal is officially off.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 13, 2025
Honda and Nissan cancel megamerger after weeks of negotiations
The automakers failed to find the common ground needed to reach an agreement, though they still intend to work together in other areas.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that Nippon Steel has agreed to make a big investment in the U.S. company instead of acquiring it, and has voiced his intention to meet with the leader of Nippon Steel as early as this week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 13, 2025
Nippon Steel exec heads to U.S. to prepare for talks with Trump
Nippon Steel may be forced to significantly revise its plans as Trump has said that the Japanese company will not take a majority stake in U.S. Steel.
Bain Capital had announced a plan to commence its tender offer for Fuji Soft shares by early February at ¥9,600 apiece
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 11, 2025
Bain may not launch tender offer for Fuji Soft
In a statement, Bain said that it is "carefully considering" its future policy, including "the option of withdrawing" its tender offer plan.
On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters that U.S. Steel would remain American.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 10, 2025
Nippon Steel goes quiet after U.S. Steel deal seemingly nixed for good
Comments over the weekend by U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba point to the U.S. steelmaker remaining American.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One, en route to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl, on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 10, 2025
Trump says Nippon Steel cannot have a majority stake in U.S. Steel
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also appeared to have discussed a revised plan with Nippon Steel before presenting it to Trump at their recent summit.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 9, 2025
Ishiba says Trump didn't push defense spending hike or discuss tariffs
Ishiba also echoed Trump's pledge to help mediate a move by Japan’s Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel rather than purchasing the American company.
Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma will be acquired by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital for ¥510 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2025
Bain to acquire Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma in $3.3 billion deal
Tanabe Pharma focuses on therapeutic areas such as immunology and inflammation, vaccines, diabetes, and central nervous system and metabolic disease.
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance will acquire Banner Life Insurance in the United States as it seeks to expand its business overseas amid sluggish domestic market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2025
Meiji Yasuda to acquire U.S. peer Banner Life
Japanese life insurance companies are expanding overseas for growth as the domestic market shrinks.
Nippon Steel's pursuit of U.S. Steel has stretched on for more than a year, with U.S. President Donald Trump vociferously condemning the proposal on numerous occasions, before Friday's more tempered remarks at the Oval Office with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at his side.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 8, 2025
Trump says Nippon Steel will invest in U.S. Steel, not buy it
It was unclear if the investment referred to a new deal structure and what the details of the transaction would be.
The consortium proposing to take Seven & I Holdings private has tapped Citigroup and Bank of America for financing, adding to a growing group of players in the potentially record-breaking management buyout bid, people familiar with the matter said.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2025
Seven & I consortium to tap Bank of America and Citi for financing
The two U.S. banks’ role in the bid would be to refinance the debt of Seven & I’s U.S. unit.
Yen advances past ¥150 per dollar as BOJ rate-hike bets ramp up
The Japanese currency climbed as much as 1% to ¥149.95 against the dollar on Thursday, a level it hasn’t touched since Dec. 9.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
Record percentage of Japanese firms plan wage hikes, survey shows
Some 61.9% of over 11,000 surveyed companies intend to pledge pay increases as part of annual wage negotiations culminating in March, according to a survey by Teikoku Databank.
Japan’s inflation speeds up, keeping BOJ on rate hike path
A customer visits a store along the Togoshi Ginza shopping street in Tokyo on Jan. 23. Rising fresh food prices contributed to the acceleration in overall inflation in January, as vegetable prices, including cabbage, soared.
Victor Wembanyama expected to miss remainder of regular season with blood clot
Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (right) is expected to miss the rest of the NBA season, the team announced on Thursday.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown ready to sprint past Paris disappointment
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (center) runs during a 100-meter heat at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3, 2024.
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).
Japan’s English-language education doesn’t pass the test
One-third of elementary school students in Japan do not like learning English, according to a 2021 poll, an 8% rise since 2013. The pressure of taking proficiency tests is eroding children's engagement with studying English and its benefits.

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