Elliott’s Toyota Clash Highlights a $5.5 Billion Japan Play

Elliott Investment Management has bet billions applying its tough style of activist investing to Japan. But the firm will have to wait a little longer to find out whether it can add Toyota to its list of wins.

The US hedge fund is trying to thwart a proposal led by business magnate Akio Toyoda to take private Toyota Industries Corp., a sprawling manufacturer which fathered the world’s largest automaker. Elliott, which has amassed a stake of more than 7% in the ¥6.4 trillion ($42 billion) company, thinks the price is too cheap — and has said so repeatedly.