Foreign activists returning to Japan amid a push for better governance will get no further than they did the last time by shouting for change.
That¡¯s the view of Alex Treves, the head of equities at Fidelity Worldwide Investment in Tokyo. Even as company executives heed the government¡¯s call to use capital more efficiently, they won¡¯t put up with activists who piggyback on the governance push by aggressively making demands, he said.
About a decade ago, Japan Inc.¡¯s propensity to hoard cash and tolerate low profits made it a target of activist funds who saw room for improvement. Instead of easy pickings, they found an establishment that mostly refused to listen.
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