Secretive Hedge Fund Ends Long Silence to Take On Japan Icon

  • Effissimo had landmark victory in Toshiba investor vote
  • Activist battle represents key moment for Japan and fund
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
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It was the rarest of public appearances. At Toshiba Corp.’s extraordinary general meeting in March, a lawyer, who didn’t give his name, talked for four minutes about why shareholders’ rights should never be infringed.

He was speaking on behalf of Effissimo Capital Management Pte, a secretive hedge fund that had avoided the spotlight for almost 15 years. Now it was coming out into the open, if only slightly, to spearhead a campaign to bring change at the conglomerate and by extension corporate Japan.