Toyota’s Tender Offer for Toyota Industries Ends in Success

Tokyo, March 24 (Jiji Press)–Toyota Motor Corp. and others said Tuesday that their tender offer for Toyota Industries Corp., the original company of the Toyota group, has been completed successfully. The Toyota camp offered to buy Toyota Industries shares at 20,600 yen apiece, with the aim of sorting out cross-shareholding relations within the group. The tender offer secured 63.60 pct of Toyota Industries shares on a voting rights basis, exceeding the minimum target of 42.01 pct. The Toyota camp will forcibly acquire the remaining shares. The acquisition cost about 5.9 trillion yen, making it one of the largest buyouts ever in Japan. Toyota Industries will be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime section and the Nagoya Stock Exchange’s Premier Market around June, following an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting in mid-May. Toyota Industries said that many shareholders agreed to the tender offer, which aimed to increase the company’s corporate value further and continue its social contributions. The Toyota camp had initially set the tender offer price at 16,300 yen but raised the price twice after Elliott Investment Management LP, known as an activist shareholder, claimed that the corporate value of Toyota Industries was significantly underestimated. After the offer price was raised to 20,600 yen, the U.S. investment firm announced its intention to sell its stake in Toyota Industries. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]