Q43Hostile takeover bids of major, old corporations, not just of venture businesses are makng the news, aren't they?

A43 That is right. Oji Paper Co., Ltd., Japan's largest paper mill, made an offer to acquire Hokuetsu Paper Mills, Ltd., the country's sixth-largest paper company. But as management could not reach agreement, in August 2006, Oji started buying up Hokuetsu common stock in a takeover bid. However, Hokuetsu called on support from Mitsubishi Corp., through a bird-party allocation of shares in Hokuetsu. The latter managed to persuade local financial institutions in Niigata Prefecture, the birthplace of the company, not to back the takeover bid.

Japan's number two paper mill, Nippon Paper Group, Inc., tried to block the takeover bid and independently bought 8.9% of Hokuetsu stock.Only 5.3% ofHokuetsu's shareholders approved the sale to Oji. Oji's attempted hostile takeover bid ended in fail-
ure. Some would argue that hostile takeover bids do not suite Japa-nese management style or practice.