OSAKA (Kyodo) An investment fund led by high-profile investor Yoshiaki Murakami has increased its stake in Hanshin Electric Railway Co. to 45.73 percent, according to a report submitted Wednesday to financial authorities.
If the Murakami Fund, as it is known, raises its stake further and crosses the 50 percent line, it would gain strong say over the railway's management on the basis of its voting rights at shareholders' meetings.
In the previous mandatory report the fund submitted to the Finance Ministry on Feb. 1, it had a 44.49 percent stake in the Osaka-based railway.
Murakami and Hanshin Electric Railway have been in a tussle over the railway's management policies since it first became public knowledge last September that the fund had acquired a major stake in the company.