Elliott Investment Management has built a stake in Nippon Express Holdings, sending the logistics company¡¯s stock to a fresh record as the activist fund ramps up its investment activity in Japan.
Shares of Nippon Express jumped as much as 18%, the biggest intraday gain ever, after the U.S. hedge fund disclosed a 5.04% stake in the Tokyo-based company.
While it¡¯s not yet clear what Elliott¡¯s intentions are with Nippon Express, the firm has focused many of its Japan investments on companies with large holdings of real estate that are not accounted for at market value. Paul Singer¡¯s Elliott has in the past pushed for target companies to sell and lease back real estate, and use the proceeds to buy back shares.
A Nippon Express spokesperson acknowledged the regulatory filing, and declined to comment on its shareholders. Elliott declined to comment.
The pace of Elliott¡¯s investments in Japan has accelerated over the past year. Nippon Express marks its third publicized campaign in the country this year ¡ª already in line with the total number of investments it disclosed in all of last year.
In 2025, the fund clashed with the Toyota group, Japan¡¯s most powerful conglomerate, in a push?for a higher price in an Akio Toyoda-led deal to take Toyota Industries private. It later reached an agreement to tender its Toyota Industries shares at a price 26% above the initial offer.
In the weeks after ending the Toyota standoff, Elliott has disclosed stakes in shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines and air conditioner manufacturer Daikin Industries.
Japan¡¯s logistics sector has also been a favored target for private equity buyouts due to its real estate holdings. A CLSA report in July said Nippon Express¡¯s property holdings made it vulnerable to a take-private bid that might use a similar approach that KKR did with Hitachi Transport System. The report estimated at the time that sales of Nippon Express¡¯ real estate and equity holdings could generate around ?723 billion ($4.5 billion) after tax.
In 2023, KKR purchased Hitachi Transport for about ?670 billion, later renaming it Logisteed. The private equity giant later sold off a handful of the company¡¯s warehouses and then in December sold a 19.9% stake in Logisteed to Japan Post for around ?142.3 billion.
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