Fuji Media Urges Activist Investors to Sell Stakes

Tokyo, March 26 (Jiji Press)–Fuji Media Holdings Inc. has urged Japanese activist investor Yoshiaki Murakami and his first daughter, Aya Nomura, to sell their stakes in the Japanese media group, after they were found to have newly bought shares in the firm despite pledging not to do so. Announcing the move Wednesday, Fuji Media said that it is concerned about the acquisition and that it has sent a letter of inquiry to the activist investors. When they agreed last month to sell their holdings of Fuji Media shares back to the company, Murakami and Nomura said that they would not acquire additional shares in the firm. But a large shareholding report submitted to the Kanto Local Finance Bureau on March 19 showed that Atra, an investment firm linked to Nomura, holds a stake of 1.29 pct in Fuji Media. The combined stake held by Atra, Nomura herself and a Murakami-affiliated investment firm stands at 5.76 pct. Fuji Media argued that the activist investors are unable to make proposals on important issues to the management, which was included in the shareholding report as the purpose of holding the large stake, when considering the fact that they signed a contract with the media group stipulating that they would sell their stakes in the share buyback scheme. In the letter of inquiry, Fuji Media urged the investors to clarify the circumstances leading up to the acquisition of additional shares, and said that it will “take appropriate measures, including a possible legal action.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]