Shares of Japanese broadcasters jumped after their business group called on the government to ease a requirement that they report foreign investors that hold a stake of 0.1% or higher.
(Bloomberg) — Shares of Japanese broadcasters jumped after their business group called on the government to ease a requirement that they report foreign investors that hold a stake of 0.1% or higher.
The Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association said on Friday that it wants the government to raise the threshold for the reporting of foreign ownership, requesting that requirements be rational and less cumbersome.
TBS Holdings Inc. jumped as much as 12%, its biggest rally in 12 years, before paring gains to 6.8%. Fuji Media Holdings Inc. advanced 4.6% after climbing as much as 8.8%. Nippon Television Holdings Inc. gained 4% and TV Asahi Holdings Corp. added 4.6%. Trading volume in these stocks spiked to up to 10 times their average in the past 20 days.
“While it was just an opinion from the business association, that triggered speculation it will become easier for foreign investors to invest in Japanese broadcasters if this does lead to changes in the rules,” said Hiroshi Namioka, chief strategist at T&D Asset Management.
Japanese broadcaster shares are trading at very low valuations, with many of them having price-to-book ratios of less than 0.4.
Their shares may look attractive to some investors as foreign interest in Japanese media content increases, said Teruhiko Nishimura, a senior portfolio manager at Gordian Capital.
–With assistance from Winnie Hsu.
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