TOKYO (Reuters) -Activist fund Oasis Management has bought a 9.6% stake in Japan’s Ain Holdings, sending the pharmacy operator’s shares 15% higher to their daily limit.
Oasis could make “important proposals” to the company to protect shareholder values, it said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
The filing follows news last month that Oasis plans to sell its 13% stake in Tsuruha Holdings to Japanese retail giant Aeon Co which plans to merge the drugstore chain with another.
Seven & i Holdings owns 7.83% of Ain’s outstanding shares, making it the third-biggest shareholder, according to the company’s website.
The Hong Kong-based fund is active in Japan and last month said it was opposed to Taisho Pharmaceutical’s $5 billion management buyout as it believes the acquisition price was too low.
Ain Holdings shares soared 15.4% to close Wednesday’s session at their daily limit high at 5,246 yen.
(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Christopher Cushing)
