The biggest feature of this year's crop of annual shareholders' meetings — which came on the heels of May's removal of the ban on triangular mergers — was the move to install defensive measures against so-called greenmailers, the corporate interlopers who chase after short-term profits.
The measures were generally introduced by management teams that had the support of a majority of shareholders, with the number of firms estimatedto have gone that route reaching about 200.
One of those companies was Japanese sauce maker Bull-Dog Sauce Co. On July 9, the Tokyo High Court rejected an appeal by U.S. investment fund Steel Partners, which was seeking an injunction to stop Bull-Dog from adopting a poison pill defense that would dilute its growing stake in the takeover target.