Elliott and Warren Buffett Are Now Both Bullish on Japan


美国对冲基金Elliott已入股住友，这也是巴菲特投资的日本贸易公司之一。 这些聪明的投资人似乎捕捉到了什么：抓住日本企业治理改革这种长期结构性趋势也许是明智之举。


东京的一个住友广告。该公司股价本周大涨。

积极型投资者和价值型投资者都向日本靠拢过来。这些聪明的投资人似乎捕捉到了什么：随着美国股市因高利率而突然再度承压，抓住日本企业治理改革这种长期结构性趋势也许是明智之举。 6park.com
Activist and value investors are converging on Japan. The smart money may be onto something: With U.S. shares suddenly under pressure from high rates again, hitching a ride on a long-term, structural trend like Japan’s corporate-governance reforms may make good sense. 6park.com
   
据一位知情人士透露，美国对冲基金Elliott已入股住友(Sumitomo)，这也是巴菲特(Warren Buffett)投资的日本贸易公司之一。在彭博(Bloomberg)首次报道这一消息后，住友股价本周跳涨10%。 6park.com
U.S. hedge fund Elliott has built a stake in Sumitomo, one of the Japanese trading companies Warren Buffett has invested in, according to a person familiar with the situation. Shares of Sumitomo jumped 10% this week after Bloomberg first reported the news. 6park.com
  
Elliott并不是独一份。巴菲特麾下的投资旗舰伯克希尔哈撒韦公司(Berkshire Hathaway)去年增持股份后，目前在住友的持股比例提高至8.3%。自从2020年首次投资五家日本贸易公司以来，巴菲特已颇有战果，例如住友的股价就在这一期间上涨了两倍多。 6park.com
Elliott isn’t the only one. Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett’s investment flagship, owns an 8.3% stake in the company, after raising its stake last year. He has made a killing since he first invested in five Japanese trading companies in 2020. Sumitomo’s share price, for example, has more than tripled during the period.  6park.com
 
这些贸易公司是业务涵盖从农业到零售的综合性企业。由于许多公司在全球拥有采矿业务，过去几年的大宗商品繁荣让这些企业受益良多。例如，住友在马达加斯加拥有镍矿，在马来西亚有铝冶炼业务。 6park.com
These trading companies are conglomerates with businesses spanning from agriculture to retail. They particularly benefited from the commodity boom of the past few years as many own mining operations across the globe. Sumitomo has nickel mines in Madagascar and an aluminum-smelting business in Malaysia, for instance.



低廉的估值很可能是吸引巴菲特的原因。FactSet数据显示，即使在股价上涨之后，住友的市帐率也仅为1.2倍，预估市盈率仅为10倍，股息收益率为3%。 6park.com
Cheap valuations were probably what drew Buffett in. Even after the rally, Sumitomo trades at just 1.2 times book value and 10 times expected earnings, with a 3% dividend yield, according to FactSet. 6park.com
  
但像Elliott这种积极型投资者也许看到了更多的东西：日本企业治理改革的东风。长期以来，许多古板的日本公司估值偏低，却几乎没有动力削减其臃肿的资产负债表。然而，日本在过去十年为改善公司治理所做的努力开始改变现状：企业减少了股票投资，将更多现金返还给股东。东京证交所的最新措施是：要求公司，尤其是那些估值较低的公司，制定提高企业价值的计划，实际上是对不能或不愿意拿出这类计划的公司点名批评。 6park.com
But activist investors like Elliott likely also see something more: tailwinds from Japan’s corporate-governance reforms. Many of these stodgy Japanese companies have long been trading at cheap valuations but had little motivation to trim their bloated balance sheets. Yet Japan’s drive to improve corporate governance in the past decade is starting to change things: Companies have slimmed down their stock investments and returned more cash to shareholders. The latest measure from Tokyo’s stock exchange: asking companies, especially those with low valuations, to outline plans to improve their corporate value, effectively naming and shaming those that couldn’t or wouldn’t come up with such plans. 6park.com
 
Elliott在日本已大有斩获。自从去年1月份Elliott持有大日本印刷(Dai Nippon Printing)股份的消息首次传出以来，这些投资已增值74%。大日本印刷去年3月宣布了该公司迄今为止最大规模的股票回购，计划为此斥资3,000亿日圆（约合19亿美元），相当于该公司当时市值的30%左右。 6park.com
Elliott has been on a roll in Japan. Its investment in Dai Nippon Printing has gained 74% since January last year, when reports of its stake first surfaced. Dai Nippon announced its largest-ever share buyback last year: a plan to spend 300 billion yen, the equivalent of $1.9 billion. That was equal to around 30% of its market capitalization when it was announced in March last year. 6park.com
  
Elliott最近对日本最大的房地产公司三井不动产(Mitsui Fudosan)的投资也表现不俗。自从今年2月份Elliott的投资首次被报道以来，三井不动产股价已上涨32%。三井不动产4月份公布了最新的长期业务计划，其中包括提高股东回报率，并把战略性持股削减一半。可能出售的资产之一是东方乐园(Oriental Land) 5.4%的股份，后者拥有东京迪士尼乐园。仅这些股份的价值就接近三井不动产市值的10%。 6park.com
Elliott’s more recent investment in Mitsui Fudosan, Japan’s largest real-estate company, has also been doing well. The company’s shares have risen 32% since February, when Elliott’s investment was first reported. Mitsui’s latest long-term business plan, announced in April, includes raising shareholders’ return ratio and selling down half of its strategic shareholdings. One possible asset that it could sell is its 5.4% stake in Oriental Land, which owns Tokyo Disneyland. That stake alone is worth nearly 10% of Mitsui’s market value. 6park.com
 
迄今为止，Elliott在日本的投资风格不像该公司在美国那样咄咄逼人。日本企业的管理层似乎更容易接受提高股东价值的想法，日本政府和国内投资者也在推动日企向这个方向努力。 6park.com
But Elliott’s approach so far has been less confrontational than it’s known for in the U.S. Japanese management seems more receptive to ideas to enhance shareholder value—as it is also being nudged in the same direction by the government and domestic investors. 6park.com
  
日本为改善企业治理而付出的努力已见成效，许多不同类型的投资者都将因此受益，不仅仅是对巴菲特这种长线价值型投资者而言。来自Elliott及其同行的更多关注无疑会锦上添花。 6park.com
Japan’s push to improve corporate governance is bearing fruit. That will benefit many different types of investors—not just long-term value hunters like Buffett. Increased attention from Elliott and its peers can only help.