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Japan rewrites FEFTA's fine print as boards face harder questions
Tokyo still wants foreign capital, but with a closer look at who really controls the votes. TEPCO shareholders agitate, Askul counts the ransomware bill, and Kakaku.com waits.
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Market pulse
Tokyo equities advanced while the 10Y JGB yield nudged higher.
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lead
Lead Story
Japan’s FEFTA draft would recast review of indirect stakes and foreign-entity deals The finance ministry has opened consultation on draft rules that would change how indirect voting rights are counted for foreign investors and pull some acquisitions of overseas entities into Japan's inward-investment screening when those entities already hold Japanese shares above the relevant threshold. Comments run until Aug. 2, and the ministry says the June 5 FEFTA amendments are meant to strengthen screening while still promoting inward investment that supports the economy.
Why it matters: This is not clerical tidying for deal lawyers. The annexes also update sensitive sectors, including drone, satellite and rocket-related activities, so overseas buyers, Japanese targets and their banks will need to recheck who is deemed a foreign investor, which transactions become reportable and where sector screens start earlier than they used to.
secondary
Companies and Deals
TEPCO board slate approved as 190 shareholders press Kashiwazaki accident fund
The move: TEPCO’s 13-director slate was approved, but 190 shareholders used the annual meeting to press a charter amendment for a Kashiwazaki-Kariwa accident fund, revised from ¥23.4tn to ¥3.8tn and designed to be funded through customer electricity charges.
Askul targets return to profit after ransomware drove ¥22.2bn annual loss
The number: a ¥22.2bn net loss after last October’s ransomware attack knocked out ordering systems, dragged sales to ¥400.2bn and cut the annual dividend to ¥10. Management is guiding for sales to recover to ¥490bn and profit to return, but says margins will still be rebuilding.
Joyful Honda, Arclands put integration timetable on hold after accounting concerns at Arclands unit
The catch: every remaining step in Joyful Honda and Arclands’ planned integration is now undecided after accounting concerns at Pets First Holdings forced an outside-led probe and a fresh review of the March 2027 target.
KYUDEN sets October launch as new Kyushu Electric parent
Kyushu Electric ordinary shareholders are due to receive one new share for each one they hold, while the amended statement lists a provisional registered amount of ¥503.7bn.
Towa to buy Tanabe Pharma Factory in generic-drug supply push
The move: Towa plans to buy Tanabe Pharma Factory outright, start transferring 35 manufacturing and marketing approvals from April 2027 onward and use the added capacity to target 24bn tablets by 2030 and more than 30bn by 2036.
Abalance probe says legacy IT deal lacked economic substance
The finding: Abalance's committee said a ¥30mn LPWA prototype order later carried at Abit lacked economic substance, making ¥25mn of booked sales inappropriate, while stopping short of concluding the accounting was intentional.
TBS buys 8.03% of U-NEXT as Uno bloc slips to 50.59%
A roughly ¥20bn off-market block trade tied to a capital and business alliance gives TBS an 8.03% stake in U-NEXT, while Yasuhide Uno and UNO-HOLDINGS remain just above the majority line at 50.59%.
Kakaku.com tender offer extended to July 16, pushing squeeze-out into October
The move: Kamgras 1 kept its ¥3,000-a-share offer intact but extended the acceptance period, delaying the expected shareholder meeting and shifting the squeeze-out phase into early October.
Noritsu Koki admits late disclosure on Senqcia acquisition
The catch: Noritsu Koki says a report required after its January 15 decision to buy Senqcia was left unfiled until July 3, even though the target had ¥35.41bn in sales in the year ended March 2025.
Muninoba secures 77.67% of Anshin, sending the squeeze-out to a vote
The move: Muninoba’s tender offer succeeded and Aiful is handing over its 6,408,000-share block on July 9, giving the buyer 77.67 per cent of Anshin Guaranty’s voting rights.
The catch: that is still below 90 per cent, so the final squeeze-out and delisting steps now run through an early-September extraordinary meeting.
quick hits
Quick Hits
MIC draft would add fake investment ads and remittance-crime solicitations to illegal-information list
Read moreThe consultation would newly list impersonation-style fake investment ads and remittance-crime solicitations as illegal information examples, a change platforms and ad distributors may need to mirror in screening and complaint-handling rules if adopted after comments close on July 16.
Japan draft would widen hotline takedown requests to fake investment ads and phishing
Read moreFake investment ads, identification-code solicitations and unregistered lender ads are among the categories Japan wants added to the Internet Hotline Center's removal-request workflow, with comments open until July 16.
Japan drafts new cyber grace periods for special critical infrastructure operators
Read moreThe catch: the consultation would reset the two early-stage carve-outs that now extend system-filing deadlines and waive some incident reports for newly designated special critical infrastructure operators, with comments open until August 2.
Komatsu plans ¥50bn bond issue with ¥20bn green tranche
Read moreThe move: Komatsu disclosed a two-tranche unsecured issue, a ¥20bn three-year green bond and a ¥30bn five-year bond. The filing puts the deal under a ¥100bn shelf registered in November 2024, with no prior draws shown on the cover page.
TV Asahi shareholders push journalism clause, female director quota and ad-program safeguards
Read moreThe move: alongside a ¥40-a-share year-end dividend, TV Asahi shareholders used the AGM to press charter changes on impartial journalism, online content correction, one-third female representation among full-time directors and protections against ad-program confusion.