Daio Paper Corp. announced Friday that it has presented a report to the Fair Trade Commission stating that the planned business integration between Nippon Paper Industries Co. and Daishowa Paper Mfg. Co. violates the Antimonopoly Law.
The move follows the announcement in March by Nippon Paper and Daishowa Paper, Japan's second- and fourth-largest paper firms, that they will integrate operations under a holding company in April 2001.
The deal would create the biggest paper-manufacturing alliance in Japan in terms of market share.
Daio said the Nippon-Daishowa alliance and Oji Paper Co., currently the nation's largest papermaker, would dominate the production of almost all paper products.
"The deal would create an oligarchic market as the alliance and Oji would further strengthen their control on product distribution," Daio said in its report.
Daio Paper, the third-largest paper firm in Japan and the biggest shareholder in Daishowa Paper, with a 13.9 percent stake, said it will vote against the plan at Daishowa Paper's general shareholders' meeting later this month.
"Although we are surprised, we believe the deal can eventually win their understanding," a Daishowa official said.