Toyota Industries buyout offer draws investor ire

Some investors in Toyota Industries voiced disapproval of a $33 billion buyout offer yesterday, adding to criticism that the bid from Japanese parent Toyota Motor was unfair to minority shareholders.

- MAKI SHIRAKI

The ¥4.7 trillion ($33 billion) offer to take the forklift maker private has already come under fire from international shareholders including London-based Zennor Asset Management and Hong Kong-based Oasis Management. But yesterday, domestic shareholders at what is likely to be the company’s last annual general meeting before it is taken private, also expressed their concerns about the plan.

The world’s top-selling automaker plans to take Toyota Industries private in a complex, multi-part transaction that includes an offer price of ¥16,300 a share.

The price, some shareholders have said, undervalues the supplier’s intrinsic value and strengthens the founding Toyoda family’s control over the broader group.