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Oasis Management

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Oasis Management Company Ltd.
FormerlyDKR Oasis Management Company LP
Company typePrivate
IndustryInvestment management
FoundedJanuary 2002 (22 years ago) (2002-01)
FounderSeth Fischer
HeadquartersLHT Tower, Hong Kong
AUMUS$5.7 billion (2024)
Number of employees
43 (2023)
Websiteoasiscm.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Oasis Management Company (Oasis), is a hedge fund management firm headquartered in Hong Kong with additional offices in Tokyo and Austin, Texas. It is an activist investor, that has pushed for significant change at companies. In recent times, it has been focusing on Japanese companies.

In its 2022 activist investing annual review, Insightia ranked Oasis as the third most influential activist investor.[2]

Background

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Oasis was founded in 2002 by Seth Fischer who previously was an Asian investment portfolio manager at Highbridge Capital Management. It was originally formed as a venture between Oasis Management Holdings and DKR Capital Partners named DKR Oasis Management. It ran an Asia-focused multi-strategy fund named DKR SoundShore Oasis Fund.[3][4]

In December 2008, due to the 2007–2008 financial crisis, DKR Oasis laid off staff in its Tokyo office.[4]

In June 2011, the venture dissolved with outside money being returned. DKR Oasis Management was restructured into Oasis Management .[3]

In September 2011, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) publicly reprimanded and fined both Oasis and Fischer HK$7.5 million ($961,767) each for trades done in 2006 relating to Japan Airlines shares. SFC alleged that Oasis placed several orders on the Tokyo Stock Exchange for Japan Airlines shares within 15 minutes of the market closing on 19 July 2006 after Japan Airlines announced a plan for a public sale of new shares. The trades appeared intended to drive down the closing price of Japan Airlines shares that day which would benefit Oasis funds during purchases of new shares in the offering. While Oasis and Fischer didn't admit trading strategy was designed to mislead the market, they agreed to accept SFC sanctions and took voluntary measures in 2007 to prevent similar events reoccurring.[3]

In May 2023, Fischer was a speaker at the Sohn Hong Kong hedge fund summit. He stated that concerns about China being uninvestable were overblown and that there were opportunities to be made investing in Chinese vocational education companies.[5]

Shareholder activism

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In February 2014, Fischer sent a letter to Nintendo President Satoru Iwata which stated that the company should focus on the mobile game market.[6] In July 2016, it was reported that Oasis stood to make tens of millions after the success of Pokémon Go.[7]

In November 2015, Oasis called for Kyocera to pay back more than $4 billion to investors. The plan was for Kyocera to sell is $8.3 billion stake in KDDI and to give half the proceeds to shareholders.[8]

In February 2017, Oasis opposed Panasonic's plan to acquire its subsidiary PanaHome stating the price was too low.[9] In April 2017, Panasonic raised its offer to satisfy Oasis and other shareholders.[10]

In November 2017, Oasis proposed a management buyout as well as a request to examine the books and records of Pasona.[11]

In 2018, Oasis was opposed to Alps Electric acquiring Alpine Electronics stating it was ripping off Alpine's minority stock owners. However Elliott Management which held more shares supported the deal.[12] In January 2019, the deal went through and Alps Alpine was formed.[13] In March 2019, Alps Alpine stated that Oasis sued it for 38.4 billion yen ($345 million) in damages and had asked the Tokyo District Court to nullify the merger.[13] In March 2022, the court sided in favour of Alps Alpine.[14]

In October 2020, Oasis submitted a request to Tokyo Dome Corp to hold a extraordinary general meeting to replace its top management.[15] In November 2020, Mitsui Fudosan announced a 120.5 billion yen ($1.2 billion) bid for Tokyo Dome Corp. After the offer, Oasis decided to tender its shares allowing the bid to be completed in January 2021.[16]

In April 2021, Oasis opposed CVC Capital Partners’ buyout proposal for Toshiba stating it was too low.[17] In March 2022, Oasis voted at an extraordinary general meeting that Toshiba solicit buyout offers from private equity firms. It also voted against Toshiba plan to break itself up.[18] In March 2023 Toshiba agreed to be acquired for US$15 billion by a consortium of 20 companies, which was led by Japan Industrial Partners and included Orix, Chubu Electric Power, and Rohm.[19]

In May 2022, Oasis published details which alleged the Fujitec's founding family Uchiyama was abusing its control over the company. It later then called for an extraordinary general meeting to replace all of the company's outside directors.[20] In February 2023, Fujitec shareholders voted to replace three of the company's outside directors with four people nominated by Oasis. In March 2023, the board ousted Fujitec Chairman Takakazu Uchiyama.[21]

In February 2023, Oasis made demands to The Restaurant Group that it changes its management team. In the subsequent months it increased its shareholding as the share price dropped by acquiring shares from Odey Asset Management and Columbia Threadneedle Investments. In October 2023, when Apollo Global Management made a bid to buy The Restaurant Group for £560 million, Oasis stood to make £40mn in profits.[22]

In March 2024, it was reported that Oasis had built up an ownership stake of Greencore which was just under 5%. Oasis was frustrated with Greencore not paying out a dividend since 2020 and was speculated to acquire more shares so it could enact changes at the company.[23]

In April 2024, Oasis announced that it held 3% of Kao Corporation and laid out a proposal to increase the share price by 76% to 97% by streamlining and focusing on overseas marketing.[24]

Oasis holds 8.6% of DIC Corporation as of October 2024.[25] DIC maintains an art collection,[26] displayed at Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art.[25] Oasis founder Fischer has commented negatively about the fact that the company maintains the museum and the collection.[25]

References

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  1. ^ "Form ADV" (PDF). SEC.
  2. ^ "THE ACTIVIST INVESTING ANNUAL REVIEW 2022" (PDF). Schulte Roth & Zabel. 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Hu, Bei (15 September 2011). "Hong Kong Regulator Fines Hedge Fund Oasis, CIO for JAL Trade". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b Tudor, Alison (11 December 2008). "DKR Oasis, Fortress Trim Staff in Tokyo". Wall Street Journal.
  5. ^ Hu, Bei (17 May 2023). "Chinese Stocks Make Comeback at Sohn HK Hedge Fund Summit". Bloomberg News.
  6. ^ Lamar, Mia (26 February 2014). "Hedge Fund Wants Nintendo to Make Mobile Games". Wall Street Journal.
  7. ^ Carew, Rick (12 July 2016). "Monster Bet on 'Pokémon Go' to Pay Off for Hong Kong Fund Manager". Wall Street Journal.
  8. ^ Redmond, Tom (25 November 2015). "A Hedge Fund Calls for $4 Billion Payout From Japan's Kyocera". Bloomberg News.
  9. ^ Redmond, Tom (20 February 2017). "Hedge Fund Oasis Pushes for a Better Panasonic-PanaHome Deal". Bloomberg News.
  10. ^ Lewis, Leo (24 April 2017). "Panasonic seeks to placate activists with improved PanaHome offer". www.ft.com. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  11. ^ Ho, Joyce (13 November 2017). "Hong Kong-based activist fund ups pressure on Japan's Pasona". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  12. ^ Taniguchi, Takako (4 December 2018). "Hedge fund Oasis seen thwarted by Elliott on Alps-Alpine deal". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  13. ^ a b Fujita, Junko (13 March 2019). "Japan's Alps Alpine says Oasis Management suing it for $345 mln". Reuters.
  14. ^ "Notice of Judgment in favor of ALPS ALPINE and ALPINE" (PDF). Alps Alphine. 24 March 2022.
  15. ^ Ikuta, Genki (20 October 2020). "Hong Kong activist investor calls on Tokyo Dome to dump chief". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  16. ^ "Mitsui Fudosan successfully acquires Tokyo Dome via tender offer". The Japan Times. 20 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  17. ^ Taniguchi, Takako (13 April 2021). "Hedge Fund Oasis Says CVC Buyout Offer for Toshiba Too Low". Bloomberg News.
  18. ^ Murdoch, Scott (24 March 2022). "EXCLUSIVE Activist fund Oasis backs call for Toshiba to solicit buyout offers -source". Reuters.
  19. ^ Baigorri, Manuel (23 March 2023). "Toshiba Accepts $15 Billion Buyout Bid From Japan Consortium". Bloomberg News.
  20. ^ Takashima, Yuta (18 December 2022). "Elevator maker Fujitec set for shareholder faceoff with Hong Kong fund Oasis". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  21. ^ Taniguchi, Takako (21 June 2023). "Elevator Maker Showcases Growing Shareholder Activism in Japan". Bloomberg News.
  22. ^ Barnes, Oliver (15 October 2023). "Activist Oasis stands to net £40mn profit from Wagamama owner sale". www.ft.com. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  23. ^ Barnes, Oliver (15 March 2024). "Activist investor Oasis builds stake in sandwich maker Greencore". www.ft.com. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
  24. ^ Squire, Kenneth (20 April 2024). "Oasis launches a campaign at Kao Corp, but this battle is likely to be a difficult one". CNBC. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
  25. ^ a b c Hilton, Sarah; Taniguchi, Takako (3 October 2024). "Rothkos and a Picasso Join List of Activist Targets in Japan". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  26. ^ Stone, Tim (3 September 2024). "Japanese art museum—home to one of world's only four Rothko rooms—faces closure and collection selloff". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
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