Proxy fight looms for eatery chain operator Ootoya

TOKYO: A long-running feud for control of a Japanese-style set-menu eatery chain operator has spilled out of the boardroom and into the kitchen.

Colowide Co Ltd, which owns multiple restaurant chains in Japan, is seeking to take control of Ootoya Holdings Co Ltd, a well-known operator of cheap and convenient eateries that serve what it describes as “mom’s food.”

Having failed in an earlier bid to install its preferred slate of directors, Colowide earlier this month launched a tender offer aimed at boosting its share in Ootoya to a majority and give it control of the company.

Ootoya yesterday formalised its opposition to the offer, setting up a proxy fight for the future of the franchise at a time when the restaurant business in Japan, as in much of the world, is struggling to stay afloat due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Restaurants have had to cut back on hours, staffing and capacity to comply with social-distancing measures, eroding their profitability.

At its heart of the struggle in Japan is a dispute over the place of kitchens: Ootoya makes its traditional Japanese meals on-site in each restaurant, and argues this is crucial to its business.

Colowide wants to modernise the chain and integrate into its network of central kitchens, hubs that can serve multiple restaurants at once.

The struggle also highlights how hostile takeovers, once frowned upon in Japan, are increasingly becoming an option for management feeling evergreater pressure from shareholders to boost long-term sluggish performance.

The battle has its roots in the sudden death in 2015 of Hisami Mitsumori, the man who built the Ootoya brand. Following a reported clash with chief executive Kenichi Kubota, Mitsumori’s son Tomohito left the company, and he and his mother eventually sold their sizeable stakes in Ootoya to Colowide in 2019.

Colowide first tried to install its preferred slate of directors, which included Tomohito Mitsumori, only for shareholders to roundly reject the proposal last month. It is now offering 3,081 yen per share to take its stake above 51%. That’s a 46% premium to the closing price before the offer, with shares closing at 2,934 yen yesterday.

Ootoya’s management has hit back, accusing Colowide of bungling past takeovers, including that of Kappa Sushi, acquired in 2014 and which Ootoya says has trailed rival sushi outlets.

In its statement of opposition to the tender offer, it warned shareholders that a successful Colowide bid would put Ootoya’s business in jeopardy. A group of more than 400 restaurant employees on Friday said they opposed the deal.

“We do not view Colowide as being in good shape to drive a turnaround of Ootoya,” Mio Kato, an analyst at LightStream Research who publishes on Smartkarma, wrote in a note on July 9.

“This looks to be a potential acquisition of a struggling company by a financially weak and in our view, also struggling company, during a crisis period for their industry.”