”この失敗で責任をとるのでは、悪しき前例になりかねない”とは篠田和久王子製紙社長(59)の敵対的TOBの失敗会見での発言でした。8月29日です。3月に7人抜きで社長に抜擢された篠田社長もいきなりずっこけちゃいました。今後、社内での責任問題がどう持ち上がってくるのでしょうか?
それにしても、視点を変えてみれば、戦国の世の群雄割拠、城取り物語を彷彿とさせる話ですね。会社を昔の城にたとえるなら、まさに企業買収は戦国大名の合従連衡の激動の中で生き残りを賭けた戦いということなんでしょうね。知恵と勇気の物語でしょうか。
失敗するとか、敗北宣言するとかといった英語表現練習の宝庫です。
1. Oji Paper Co. plans to drop its hostile bid for rival Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd. because it is unlikely to acquire more than 50 percent of Hokuetsu shares.
2. Oji Paper's bid to gain control of Hokuetsu Paper Mills seems destined for failure as major shareholders refuse to sell their holdings.
3. The public tender offer by Oji Paper Co. for a majority of Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd. shares is likely to fail now that Hokuetsu shareholders combining for more than 50% stake have refused to sell their shareholdings.
4. Oji Paper Co. President Kazuhisa Shiroda admitted Tuesday his company's takeover bid for Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd. has been thwarted.The bid is likely to fail, Shiroda said, effectively ending the effort by the country's largest papermaker to merge with a rival.
5. The unprecdented hostile takeover battle, the first by a big, tradittional company, is fizzling to an end. Leading paper producer Oji Paper Co. has effectively conceded defeat in its hostile bid for smaller rival Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd.