Activist investor Elliott bought shares of Toyota Industries. They're up 55% for the year

One of the world's best-known activist investors, Elliott Management, last quarter became a shareholder in Toyota Industries, a Japanese company that makes forklifts, auto parts and textile machinery. In doing so, Elliott became embroiled in the controversy surrounding a proposal to buy out Toyota Industries' shares and turn it into a private company. If the buyers are successful, it could be the largest such deal in Japanese history and one of the largest in the world, Bloomberg says.

Elliott held a 3.26% stake as of Sept. 30, 2025, according to a document published on the Toyota Industries website (in Japanese). That makes Elliott one of the company's largest shareholders, Bloomberg noted. Since then, Elliott's stake has further increased and now stands at just under 5%, sources told the Financial Times.

Elliott, having become a shareholder of Toyota Industries, found himself at the center of "one of the world's largest and most controversial attempts to turn the company into a private company," the Financial Times reported. According to the newspaper, the activist investor has blithely opposed the proposal to buy out Toyota Industries shares, which was made by a consortium of investors led by private real estate company Toyota Fudosan and Akio Toyoda - chairman of the board of directors of Toyota Motor, the world's largest automaker by sales. As Bloomberg writes, this is the largest offer to turn a public company into a private company in Japanese history. The total amount of the deal, for which it is proposed to buy out the shares of Toyota Industries, reaches 4.7 trillion yen ($30.6 billion).

According to Elliott, the proposed price of 16,300 yen ($105.8 at current exchange rates) for each Toyota Industries share is too low. That even at the time of the offer was 11% below the last closing price, Bloomberg noted. By comparison, Toyota Industries securities ended trading on Nov. 11 up 1.8% to 17,250 yen ($111.9), with the stock up 34% since the start of 2025 and nearly 55% over the past 12 months.

Elliott has confirmed a "significant investment" in Toyota Industries and confirmed that it has "shared its views" with the company's management and its board on Toyota Fudosan and Akio Toyoda's offer, the FT reports. Elliott believes the reported amount "significantly undervalues Toyota Industries". The company itself said it was in "ongoing and constructive discussions with shareholders in a sincere and respectful manner", the FT added. Toyota Fudosan did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment.

The buyout offer for Toyota Industries shares made in the summer of 2025 has displeased institutional investors and corporate governance experts, who claimed a lack of transparency and undervaluation, the Financial Times writes. United First Partners in September estimated the value of Toyota Industries' assets at 22,782 yen per share, while Global Equity Research analyst Arun George in November named the amount at 19,607 per share, Bloomberg added.

The deal, if finalized, would strengthen the Toyoda family's control of Japan's largest business, Bloomberg claims.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor