Rakuten Inc.'s unwanted merger overture for Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. suffered another setback Wednesday when the Tokyo High Court dismissed Rakuten's provisional appeal for TBS to disclose its accounting records on stock trading.
In line with a lower court dismissal of Rakuten's plea June 15, the high court said the country's largest online mall operator has no reason to urgently seek access to TBS accounting records.
Even without knowledge about these records, Rakuten could exercise its shareholder rights with no restriction, the high court said.
Rakuten, which tried unsuccessfully in 2005 to take over the broadcaster, is taking legal steps to defeat the adoption of a package of antitakeover measures TBS will propose at its shareholders' meeting Thursday.
Rakuten claimed that TBS, one of Japan's biggest private TV broadcasters, has spent more than 90 billion yen on cross-shareholding deals with friendly firms and other "stable" investors to ward off hostile takeover bids.
This is making it difficult for other shareholders to purchase TBS shares, Rakuten said.
Since Rakuten threatened to expand its TBS stake beyond 20 percent against the broadcaster's will earlier this year, TBS has been taking measures to fend off hostile bids.
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