Momoe Ban

New York

Senior Correspondent at Nikkei

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Articles

U.S. investor Ares taps ex-SMBC executive to lead Japan expansion

Jul 8, 2024 | asia.nikkei.com | Momoe Ban

NEW YORK -- Ares Management has appointed a former executive of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. to lead its Japan operations as it prepares to open an office in Tokyo this year, tapping into a growing appetite for private assets. The U.S. firm said Monday that it had named Masahiko Oshima, a former SMBC deputy chairman, as partner and Japan chairman of its Asian arm.
U.S. activist fund Dalton pushes Japan's Fuji Media for management buyout

May 30, 2024 | asia.nikkei.com | Momoe Ban

NEW YORK -- U.S. activist fund Dalton Investments sent a letter to Japanese broadcaster Fuji Media Holdings on Thursday outlining a proposal to take the group private through a management buyout. Dalton would hold a 20% stake in Fuji Media, with the remaining shares going to private equity funds, managers, employees and other investors.
Ray Dalio sees U.S. on 'brink of great disruption' as election looms

May 24, 2024 | asia.nikkei.com | Momoe Ban

NEW YORK -- As tension builds in global financial markets over persistent inflation and the threat of fragmentation, Nikkei asked Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio for the perspective of an investor making bets on these economic changes. Dalio is known for applying lessons from history to his investment decisions, predicting the 2008 global financial crisis based on past crises and profiting heavily while other hedge funds struggled.
Warren Buffett saw 'compelling' reasons to buy Japan trading houses

May 4, 2024 | asia.nikkei.com | Hirofumi Takeuchi |Momoe Ban

OMAHA, Nebraska -- Warren Buffett had "overwhelmingly compelling" reasons for his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway to buy shares in Japanese trading houses, the legendary investor told shareholders on Saturday. Speaking at Berkshire Hathaway's annual general meeting in Omaha, Buffett noted that U.S. companies are still the main investment targets, but he talked about investment in five major Japanese trading houses since 2019 as an exception.
U.S. grower of pricey Japanese strawberries holds $134m funding round

Feb 27, 2024 | asia.nikkei.com | Momoe Ban

NEW YORK -- Oishii, a U.S. startup with Japanese roots that is known for its premium strawberries, has raised $134 million in a recent funding round from 19 investors including Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, Nikkei has learned. Founded in 2016, the New Jersey-based company, led by co-founder and CEO Hiroki Koga, uses agricultural technology from Japan to grow sweet Japanese strawberry varieties in U.S. indoor farms without using pesticides.
'Japan is waking up' on corporate governance, Dalton co-founder says

Jan 2, 2024 | asia.nikkei.com | Momoe Ban

NEW YORK -- 2023 was a year of progress for Japanese corporate governance reform, says James Rosenwald, the co-founder of Dalton Investments who pioneered activist shareholding in the country. "Japan is waking up. Most CEOs are waking up," Rosenwald told Nikkei Asia in a recent interview, saying that if companies follow his advice, the Nikkei Stock Average could reach 40,000 by 2025.
Japan has 'long way to go' on governance reform: Oasis founder

Aug 5, 2023 | asia.nikkei.com | Momoe Ban

NEW YORK -- Japan has made real progress on corporate governance, by improving communication with shareholders and installing more independent directors, but still has "a long way to go," Seth Fischer, founder of Hong Kong-based activist investment firm Oasis Management, told Nikkei. Oasis has pushed for change at such companies as Nintendo and elevator maker Fujitec, where the fund recently spearheaded a shareholder revolt against management.
U.S. regulators have tools to handle banking turmoil: ex-comptroller

May 30, 2023 | asia.nikkei.com | Yumiko Oshima |Momoe Ban

NEW YORK -- As the string of U.S. regional bank failures in recent months spurs talk in Congress about tougher regulation, former Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig argues that regulators "have more than enough authority" to handle the problem. Ludwig headed the Office of the Comptroller for the Currency, the agency responsible for regulating national banks, under President Bill Clinton, steering the response to a credit crunch in the early 1990s.
U.S. regulators have tools to handle banking turmoil: ex-comptroller

May 30, 2023 | asia.nikkei.com | Yumiko Oshima |Momoe Ban
Concert to commemorate 'Japanese Schindler' set for New York

Apr 1, 2023 | asia.nikkei.com | Momoe Ban

NEW YORK -- A concert commemorating the life of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat during World War II who helped thousands of Jews flee Nazi persecution, will be held at New York's Carnegie Hall on April 19. Celebrated Japanese American cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper, who organized the concert, held a prelude event on March 14 at the Japan Society in New York.