The Toyota Industries Corp. logo at the company’s Nagakusa plant in Obu, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Shares of forklift manufacturer Toyota Industries jumped to a record high on Thursday, a day after Toyota Motor sweetened the tender offer price for buying out the carmaker by more than 15% to over $35 billion.<\/p>\n
Shares of Toyota Industries rose almost 6% to 19,080 yen, soaring past the revised offer price, signaling investors likely expect an even better deal. <\/p>\n
Shares of Toyota Motor, the world’s largest carmaker by sales, advanced over 2%.<\/p>\n
Toyota Motor said late Wednesday it had raised the buyout offer<\/a> for the group company to 18,800 yen ($118.11) per share, from 16,300 yen apiece announced in June last year, advancing plans to take the company private. <\/p>\n Last year, Toyota Motor had sought to acquire Japan’s largest corporate group<\/a> for 4.7 trillion yen. The deal included 1 billion yen from chair Akio Toyoda, and Toyota Motor’s investment of about 700 billion yen in non-voting preferred shares.<\/p>\n In December, Toyota Industries said it had asked for a higher price, citing concerns that the deal’s chances of success were limited.<\/p>\n “While the revised offer represents an all-time high, it remains arguably light,” said Arun George, a global equity research analyst on SmartKarma.<\/p>\n It comes in below the middle of the valuation range set out by the independent adviser, suggesting the company may still be undervalued, he said.<\/p>\n Toyota Industries, which founded Toyota Motor, produces a range of products including forklifts, engines, electronic components, and stamping dies.<\/p>\n “I expect there to be some interesting fireworks on this deal. It is the biggest mis-priced takeover in Japan for quite a while. To be clear\u00a0I expect activist action,” said Travis Lundy, an independent analyst, adding that he expects activists to demand a higher price or try to block the deal.<\/p>\n In its latest sales and production report, Toyota Motor’s global output<\/a> slid 5.5% to 821,723 units in November, marking the first year-on-year decline in six months. Global sales also fell 2.2% year-on-year, with the company reporting that sales in China fell after the country scaled back on purchase subsidies in certain regions.<\/p>\n The automaker flagged a substantial hit from U.S. tariffs, projecting a 1.45 trillion yen (over $9 billion) impact for its financial year ending March. <\/p>\n