Tomohide Maki: “We’re giving investors access to quality listed Japanese companies”
Ahead of the Japanese Equities Day webinar on Wednesday 22nd September, the Hedge Funds Club’s Stefan Nilsson talks with Tomohide Maki, Head of Japan Business at Spark Plus, an independent corporate access and investor relations firm founded by Omar Taheri in Singapore in 2017. Spark Plus organises roadshows and webinars for listed companies, to find out more about the online event.
Spark Plus is putting on its first Japanese equities-focused webinar on Wednesday 22nd September. Tell us about it!
I have been working with Omar and Spark Plus for the last 14 months and organised a series of non-deal roadshows for Japanese small/mid-caps companies to investors across Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. This is the first corporate access day webinar we are organising and are very excited about it. There are many notable growing small caps in the Japanese market, but many of them have not been successful in attracting enough attention among investors outside of Japan, mainly due to language problems and being unfamiliar with investors outside of Japan. The goal is for us to give investors across the globe access to quality Japanese listed companies and providing the Japanese companies with a broader investor network.
Which sectors will you be covering in the presentations?
The sectors are well diverse, from technology and internet-related to real estate and utilities, but one common characteristic is that all have an attractive business model. Most of the companies presenting have high-growth opportunities.
What type of investors are you aiming this webinar at?
The aim is to have investors across Asia Pacific with a fundamental approach to valuing a company. We already have several of the largest family offices across Asia signed up for the corporate access day.
Will investors listening in have a chance to ask questions during the webinar?
Investors will have the opportunity to send across questions via the Zoom functionality. We also encourage investors to email us beforehand if they have any particular questions.
Are you seeing an increased interest in Japanese companies from non-Japanese investors?
There is a healthy uptrend in non-Japanese investors starting to look at Japan given the strong fundamentals many corporates have. Foreign investors have not had regular opportunities to speak to Japanese companies given language barriers, poor corporate access for small caps and family offices not getting direct access to speak to management.
The timing seems pretty good with renewed interest in Japanese equities and a new prime minister about to take office.
Yes, we believe so, too. Performance-wise, Japan is still a laggard compared to other major markets, and investors can enjoy a good upside.
Register for the webinar for free and find more information on the Japanese corporations presenting at the Japanese Equities Day webinar on Wednesday 22nd September here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6716310798910/WN_XN_LvYZhSwGvv0K15RNEpg
