On June 13, the Chazen Institute,
the Center on Japanese Economy and Business and ColumbiaLawSchool’s
Center for Japanese Legal Studies cosponsored a two-hour presentation and
discussion of Japan’s
planned new guidelines for hostile takeovers. Yasu Hatakeyama, managing
director of Lazard Freres & Co. LLC, presented the guidelines on behalf of
the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) with commentary
from George Sampas and Janet Geldzahler of Sullivan & Cromwell
LLP. Professor Charles Calomiris of ColumbiaBusinessSchool
and Professors Curtis Milhaupt and John Coffee Jr. of ColumbiaLawSchool
provided additional insight on this current and changing topic.
The discussion and debate included the pros and cons of these new guidelines from practitioner,
governmental and academic perspectives on what one speaker called the
"Delawarization" of Japan
referring to the Delaware
standards that much of the guidelines are based on. A report on this event is forthcoming.
