Oasis Management Company, a Hong-Kong based international hedge fund management firm, has acquired additional shares in major Japanese manga and game publisher Kadokawa, as reported by GameBiz. According to the amended version of a report submitted to the Financial Services Agency, the number of shares held by Oasis increased from over 14 million to over 17 million, with its ownership percentage rising from 10.00% to 11.85%.
A week ago, on March 19, we reported that Oasis had acquired an 8.86% stake in Kadokawa, exceeding the 5% threshold for “large shareholders.” Only five days later, it was revealed that Oasis had bought additional shares in Kadokawa, pushing their ownership percentage up to 10% (Source: GameBiz). With seemingly no time to waste until the general shareholders meeting scheduled for June, as mentioned earlier, the investor has yet again increased its stake, owning 11.18% of Kadokawa at the time of writing. As a result, Oasis has now become one of Kadokawa’s largest shareholders, even exceeding Sony’s 10.09% stake.
To provide some background, Oasis Management Company is known as an activist investor, meaning that it seeks to buy significant stakes in companies in order to influence how they are managed, usually with the purpose of increasing shareholder returns (not to be confused with political activism). Asides from putting pressure on multiple major companies in Japan, within the video game industry, the fund is somewhat infamous for urging Nintendo to “immediately enter the mobile market” back in 2014.
Earlier this month, Oasis stated that the purpose of its acquisition of Kadokawa shares is “portfolio investment” and “important proposal activities” in the interest of “protecting shareholder value.” While the fund hasn’t announced anything specific so far, we will probably see whether and how the huge acquisition reflects on Kadokawa’s leadership once June’s general shareholders meeting is in session.
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