Japan's best-known activist investor, Yoshiaki Murakami, announced a tender offer for Toshiba Machine Co., one of the entities embroiled in a controversial takeover battle for NuFlare Technology Inc.
The bid late Friday with funds from investment company Office Support, backed by Murakami, came just hours after Toshiba Machine confirmed it had agreed to tender its shares in NuFlare to Toshiba Corp. for ¥11,900 apiece. The electronics maker was able to clinch the unusual bidding war, which included Murakami's funds, even though Hoya Corp. had offered to pay a higher price of ¥12,900 for each NuFlare share.
Murakami appears to be seeking to disrupt or derail the NuFlare deal, even though Toshiba said the same day that it had secured enough shares to proceed with a takeover of NuFlare. The purchase was seen as a snub to minority shareholders because Toshiba was already NuFlare's largest stakeholder with 52.4 percent when it started the buyout. Toshiba Machine, an independent company that retains the former parent's name and is the second-largest NuFlare stockholder, had agreed to sell its 15.8 percent stake to Toshiba.