Zeitschrift für Japanisches Recht
Heft Nr.13 / 7. Jahrgang 2002

Appraisal Rights in Japanese Corporate Law

Moritz Bälz

 

I.      Introduction

II.      Origins and Aims of Appraisal Rights in Japanese Law

III.    Scope of Application

1.   Merger, Transfer of Business, and Restriction of Transferability of Shares
2.   Transformation, Share Exchange, and Corporate Split
3.   Small-Scale Transactions
4.   Overview: Forms of Transactions and Appraisal Rights

IV.    Procedure

1.   Written Objection Prior to the Shareholder Meeting
2.   Voting Against the Proposal on the Shareholder Meeting
3.   Request for Appraisal
4.   Modified Procedure in the Case of Small-Scale Transactions
5.   Effect of Appraisal Procedure
6.   Costs

V.      Valuing the Minority Share

1.   General Remarks
2.   Non-Listed Shares
3.   Listed Shares

VI.    No Exclusivity of the Appraisal Remedy

VII.   Comparison with American Models

1.   Scope of Application
2.   Procedure of Appraisal

VIII. Conclusion

 

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of appraisal rights in protecting minority shareholdersofJapanesecorporations.UnlikeJapanesederivativesuits,[1]appraisalrights in Japanese corporate law have never really enjoyed much attention by Western scholars.[2] This is rather surprising given that the development of the Japanese Commercial Code (CC)[3] seems to tell a great success story of the appraisal remedy. Especially sincethe1990s,variousamendmentstotheCommercialCodehaveconstantlybroadened the…


[1]      O. Kliesow,AktionärsrechtundAktionärsklageinJapan(2001).M.D.West,WhyShareholdersSue:TheEvidencefromJapan: 30JournalofLegalStudies(JLEGST)351-382 (2001).

[2]      The only article available in English seems to be M. Hayakawa, Appraisal Rights in Japanese Company Law – Can They Be Used as Modern Weapons for Minority Shareholders?:2European Business Organization Law Review (EBOR) 611-623 (2001).

[3]      Shôhô, Law No. 48/1899, as amended by Law No. 79/2001, English translation Eibun-Horei-Sha (ed.), EHS Law Bulletin Series, Vol. II, JA, no. 2200 (as of 2000), German translation: O. Kliesow / U. Eisele / M. Bälz, Das japanische Handelsgesetz (2002).