News / Economics can be 'just a detail' when Japanese firms pull the M&A trigger

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Japanese firms rarely show financial discipline in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). When they have plenty of cash on their books, they tend to spend it; when they are short of cash, they can either borrow at dirt-cheap rates or raise equity to fund their plans.

Their methodical, almost scientific, approach to business, which provides the ethos for efficient supply chain management, makes up for the high equity premiums they usually pay in M&A.

Cheap debt and easy access to alternative kinds of ...