Family Fights to Keep Control of 157-Year-Old Firm in Japan

Ishikawa is a remote, mountainous prefecture bordering the Sea of Japan, but the fate of a drug store chain whose local roots go back to 1869 has implications for Tokyo’s financial markets hundreds of kilometers away.

The company, Kusuri no Aoki Holdings Co., is run by two brothers who are the sixth generation of the founding family. They are fighting for control of the firm with their largest outside shareholders, Aeon Co. and the activist fund Oasis Management Co.