Toyota Group has increased its buyout offer for a core subsidiary by 15%, a move that values the acquisition target at 6.1 trillion yen (approximately $390 billion). This price hike represents a concession by Toyota Group to the demands of activist shareholder Elliott Investment Management, which had previously criticized the initial offer as a "low-ball bid."

Toyota announced on Wednesday that it has raised its offer for the shares of Toyota Industries it does not already own to 18,800 yen per share, up from the initial 16,300 yen per share proposed in June 2025. The tender offer is scheduled to commence on Thursday and will run until February 12.

The revised offer represents a 4.3% premium over Toyota Industries' latest closing price, signaling a victory for shareholder activism in the Japanese market and providing strong support for potential future campaigns of a similar nature. Although investor-led efforts to reform Japanese corporations have become increasingly common in recent years, no activist had previously dared to challenge a corporate giant of Toyota's scale.

"Raising the offer does not mean the debate over Toyota Industries' valuation is over," stated Tatsuo Yoshida, a senior auto analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

Investors, including billionaire Paul Singer's Elliott Investment Management, had identified the initial offer price as a primary point of contention. If this increased bid succeeds in quieting market criticism, Akio Toyoda, the patriarch of Toyota Group and Chairman of Toyota Motor, will move a step closer to consolidating control over the business empire founded by his family.

Since the buyout plan was unveiled in June 2025, the Toyota Group, led by Akio Toyoda, has faced significant pressure to improve the terms of the acquisition.

According to the buyout scheme, Toyota Industries will be taken private by a special purpose company, which is controlled by Toyota Fudosan, a privately held real estate firm where Akio Toyoda serves as Chairman.

A statement released by Toyota on Wednesday indicated that Toyota Fudosan and Toyota Industries have been in discussions regarding a potential price increase since December of last year.

Some investors had previously strongly criticized the acquisition plan, labeling it an "unfair transaction" that disregarded the interests of minority shareholders and ran counter to the Japanese government's decade-long policy push for greater corporate transparency and operational independence.

The tender offer was originally scheduled to launch in December 2025 but was postponed until at least February of this year due to delays in the antitrust approval processes of several countries.

Elliott Investment Management disclosed in November 2025 that it had acquired a 5% stake in Toyota Industries. Within weeks, the US-based fund began engaging with domestic Japanese investors and asset managers to gather support for its planned activist campaign.

Data compiled by Bloomberg shows that Elliott's core argument was that the buyout proposal significantly undervalued Toyota Industries, particularly given that Toyota Industries itself holds billions of dollars worth of shares in other companies.

Elliott was not the only party to voice opposition to the transaction.

Since late August 2025, Toyota Industries' stock price had consistently traded above the initial offer price, a market signal that investors were anticipating a higher bid. The stock trading above Toyota Fudosan's offer price also reduced the incentive for minority shareholders to tender their shares, as they could fetch a higher price on the open market.

In August 2025, more than twenty investors, including several Japanese domestic institutions, jointly sent a letter to the boards of Toyota Industries and Toyota Motor, arguing that the buyout deal lacked transparency and was detrimental to minority shareholders' interests.

Toyota Industries is the foundational company of the Toyota Group, the enterprise from which the world's largest automaker ultimately grew. Founded by Sakichi Toyoda, Akio Toyoda's great-grandfather, the company's operations were later expanded by his son, Kiichiro Toyoda, who established Toyota Motor. Today, Toyota Motor forms the core of Japan's largest corporate group and is the world's top-selling automaker.

Akio Toyoda served as Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Motor for 14 years before stepping down from that role in 2023 to become Chairman.

Koji Sato, the current CEO of Toyota Motor, stated publicly in October 2025 that Toyota Fudosan had no plans at that time to increase its acquisition offer.