Skip to content
October 2026 edition · Methodology GNT-BDS v1.1.1 · Last updated 2026-10-23日本語 / English
Japan IR IndexIndependent research · English disclosure & shareholder communication

Questions shareholders ask at the AGM 11

Real estate and other non-core assets

Real estate and securities that have little to do with the core business sit on the balance sheet at cost, so their unrealised gains are hard to see. Shareholders ask: "At market value, what does your capital efficiency look like?" and "Why keep these assets?"

Published 19 October 2026; sources re-checked 24 October 2026. Vote figures come from extraordinary reports and company disclosures.

The questions as asked

Unrealised gains on rental property, not on the balance sheet, total ¥24.3bn, more than twice equity of ¥11.6bn. Counting them, ROE is 2.6%, not 6.3%; capital efficiency is low.

Summary of the reasons for Ishii Iron Works' (6362) 2024 shareholder proposals (VASANTA MASTER FUND).

Spin off the real estate business and unwind the cross-shareholdings.

Summary of the reasons in NIPPON ACTIVE VALUE FUND's 2025 shareholder proposal at Fuji Media Holdings (4676), as reproduced in the company's board opinion (16 May 2025). The press reported the campaign as Dalton Investments'.

What an answer needs to contain

  1. Market value and unrealised gains: the fair value of rental property and investment securities, and the gap to book value.
  2. The return on those assets: yield on market value compared with the cost of capital.
  3. Why you hold them: the link to the core business, future use, and any constraints on selling.
  4. A policy and a deadline: keep, sell or separate, and by when.
  5. Use of the proceeds: growth investment or returns.S1
  6. Metrics that reflect market value: if you will not publish them, why.

Case: Ishii Iron Works (6362), 2024

Ishii Iron Works is not covered by the Japan IR Index.

Proponent
VASANTA MASTER FUND
Proposals
A dividend equivalent to a 5% DOE; disclosure of gain-adjusted metrics (articles)
Outcome
Rejected (21.02%, 20.03%); taken private the same year
  1. New mid-term plan targeting, for FY3/2027, ROE of 8.0% or more, ROIC of 6.5% or more and a PER of 12.5x
  2. The board publishes its opposition: "management metrics based on unrealised gains, and returns based on unrealised profit, raise concerns of objectivity, sustainability and soundness"
  3. AGM: the dividend proposal gets 21.02% and the disclosure articles change 20.03%; both fail
  4. Calls an extraordinary meeting for a share consolidation, with delisting expected on 24 December

What the answer covered

  • The new plan put numbers on ROE, ROIC and PER targets and on measures including buybacks. It also gave its total return record (69.2% in FY3/2023).

What it left unanswered

  • On the ¥24.3bn of unrealised gains at the centre of the proposal, it did not say how the assets would be used or why it keeps them. By objecting to the objectivity of the metric, it avoided the question of capital efficiency at market value.
  • Four months after the AGM it began the process of going private through a share consolidation.

Case: Fuji Media Holdings (4676), 2025

What the answer covered

  • For securities, it gave the amount, the ratio, the deadline and the use of proceeds in numbers.

What it left unanswered

  • For real estate, it stated a policy of keeping it but gave no market value, yield or comparison with the cost of capital.
  • Little is available in English (G1, G5, G6, G7 = not found, September 2026).

Cross-shareholdings in detail: theme 03 →

Sources