Toyota pays 26% premium to secure Industries privatisation

Toyota Group has raised its tender offer for Toyota Industries to JP¥20,600 (US$131) per share following a prolonged standoff with activist investor Elliott Investment Management. The revised bid raises the total buyout to US$38bn, representing a 26% increase from the original offer that has secured Elliott’s support for the take-private bid.

The new price follows months of resistance where Elliott argued the previous JP¥18,800 bid substantially undervalued the supplier. Throughout, Elliott has maintained that the firm’s intrinsic net asset value exceeded JP¥26,134 per share, albeit with the caveat that it would take some streamlining of operations for this to be realised. In a statement, Elliott said that the new offer represented “an improved outcome for minority shareholders”.

Alongside the raised offer, Toyota Fudosan—the unlisted holding group assembled to handle the privatisation effort—has extended the tender deadline to 16 March 2026. This would indicate that Elliott’s recent efforts to poach investors that have already agreed to sell their shares to Toyota were at least somewhat successful. The first revised deadline was 2 March; the one before that was 12 February. 

Toyota Group required two-thirds support to proceed. Having emerged successful, the privatisation of Toyota Industries will mark a significant shift for the automotive conglomerate. Historically relied on complex cross-shareholding structures and has faced criticism for the powerful influence wielded by its founding family. The deal is expected to catalyse a broader unwinding of corporate Japan’s intertwined ownership models. 

As part of the agreement, Toyota Industries will begin selling its massive stakes in other group companies to unlock trapped value. The market reaction was immediate, with Toyota Industries shares closing 1.5% higher at JP¥20,535 in the hours following the announcement. Investors are now betting that other Japanese conglomerates will face similar pressure to improve capital efficiency.

The automaker had previously characterised the take-private effort as a necessary step as it moves to more fully embrace modern technologies like electrification and software development. On 2 February, Toyota Industries reported operating income of US$312m for Q3 2025, and maintained full-year guidance of US$643m—appreciably short of analyst estimates of US$1.1bn.