Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie advised companies Friday to boost their corporate value to prevent hostile takeover attempts.
"There will be more hostile takeover bids in Japan in the future as well. If companies are to counter hostile bids, they should raise their corporate value," Horie told a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's committee on corporate governance.
Livedoor fought with Fuji TV earlier this year for control of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc., ending with an agreement that Fuji TV would wholly own the radio broadcaster.
Market capitalization is the only fair indicator of corporate value for stock companies, Horie said. Such capitalization is calculated by multiplying the number of shares of the firm and the current price of those shares.
Nippon Broadcasting, a radio broadcaster with a major stake in Fuji Television Network Inc., was a bargain, undervalued on the bourse, he said.
Fuji TV Chairman Hisashi Hieda, however, had a different view of hostile takeovers.
Ensuring that a firm targeted for hostile takeover can be sustained and continue to operate should be the priority, he told the LDP committee.
The battle for control of NBS pointed out a defect in the law, he said, referring to Livedoor's initial move of buying its NBS stake outside of regular trading hours.
Hieda also complained that recent court decisions have tended to favor shareholders rather than corporate managers, referring to the ruling against the NBS plan to issue equity warrants to Fuji TV to counter the Livedoor bid.