
Steel Partners, the US activist hedge fund, is raising its stake in Myojo Foods through a tender offer for all the shares it does not currently own in the Japanese noodle company. Steel Partners – which two years ago launched hostile takeover bids for Sotoh, a textile dyer, and Yushiro Chemical – is already Myojo's largest shareholder, with a 23.1 per cent stake...Activist funds had gone quiet since Yoshiaki Murakami, Japan's best known activist shareholder, was arrested earlier this year for insider trading. But Dalton Investments, a US investment fund, earlier this month launched a hostile takeover bid for SunTelephone...Yusuke Nishi, managing principal of Steel Partners Japan, said "This is not a hostile takeover." However, Steel Partners' bid comes after it failed to convince Myojo executives to participate in a management buy-out...more...