TOKYO, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Activist investor Elliott Investment Management is considering a tender offer for Toyota Industries, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday, in what could further complicate an effort by the Toyota group to take the forklift maker private.
Elliott has criticised the auto group’s bid for Toyota Industries, at 18,800 yen ($123.21) a share, as too low, calling on shareholders not to tender into the revised offer price.
The take-private plan, first proposed last June at 16,300 yen per share, has come under fire from investors criticising what they argued was an opaque valuation methodology and a process that failed to protect minority shareholder interests.
Pressure on the world’s largest automaker increased after Elliott, one of the world’s most prominent activist hedge funds, disclosed its stake in November. Its stake stood at 6.65% as of the latest filing last week.
Citing an unnamed source, the Nikkei reported that Elliott’s stake had risen further since then, and that it was exploring a rival bid to prevent shareholders of Toyota Industries from tendering their shares.
($1 = 152.5800 yen)
(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama and Anton BridgeEditing by Chang-Ran Kim)
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