By Kosaku Narioka
Elliott Investment Management has built a stake in Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, saying the Japanese shipping giant is materially undervalued despite its business strength, the latest in a series of activist moves targeting prominent Japanese companies.
The U.S. activist investor said late Tuesday that its significant investment reflected its belief in the Japanese company's strength in shipping and its standing as a major owner of oceangoing vessels.
Elliott said Mitsui O.S.K.'s stock is materially undervalued despite its business strength and high-quality assets.
The activist investor said it sees an opportunity to work constructively with the shipping company to ensure its medium-term management plan is appropriately ambitious, and to deliver the premium valuation it deserves.
Mitsui O.S.K. handles a variety of cargoes, including grain, metals, energy and cars, and is also engaged in the real-estate business. The company took its key real-estate subsidiary Daibiru private in 2022.
A spokesman for Mitsui O.S.K. declined to comment on discussions with any specific investors.
Shares were recently 12% higher in Tokyo on Wednesday following Elliott's announcement, though they were still trading below book value.
For the fiscal year ending March, the Japanese company has projected revenue to rise 3.1% to 1.830 trillion yen, equivalent to $11.51 billion, and operating profit to decline 17% to Y125.00 billion.
Activist investors, once shunned by Japanese management, have gained more mainstream recognition over the years as the government has pressed companies to communicate better with investors and to improve capital efficiency. That has triggered a wave of activist campaigns seeking operational changes, buybacks or board representation.
Financial regulators, meanwhile, have pushed for companies to include more independent directors, exposing corporate management to greater outside influence. The Tokyo Stock Exchange has also called on listed companies to improve returns on shareholders' capital and correct discounts reflected in their share prices, a demand often echoed by activists.
When a Toyota group company attempted to take Toyota Industries private recently, Elliott initially opposed the move, saying that the terms substantially undervalued the Japanese forklift maker. The activist investor agreed to a sweetened bid earlier this month, paving the way for the company, from which Toyota Motor was spun off in 1937, to be taken private.
Earlier this year, San Francisco-based Farallon Capital Management called on Japanese insurer T&D Holdings to review the business model of one of its life-insurance units and further improve capital efficiency.
Hong Kong-based Oasis Management last week urged accounting scandal-hit Nidec to strengthen the board's oversight and work on key parts of the company's medium-term plan, including restructuring its business portfolio and implementing cost cuts.
Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 18, 2026 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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