EU calls for aid to poor nations

Poor countries are also being hit by the financial crisis.

The European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for a ‘human rescue’ package to help poor countries.

Speaking at the opening of a high-level UN conference on aid, Mr Barroso said it would be ‘obscene’ to neglect the human cost of the global slowdown.

The UN Conference on Financing for Development is meeting in Doha, Qatar to track progress on development aid.

There are fears that rich countries will cut back on development aid as a result of the looming recession.

Mr Barroso said that climate change, energy security and trade would add to the potential problems facing poor countries as result of the financial crisis.

The World Bank has said that developing countries are facing a ‘perfect storm’, with the convergence of slowing growth, a withdrawal of private capital, and higher interest rates on their debt.

The Bank says that growth in developing countries will fall by two percentage points to 4.5% next year, as the volume of global trade contracts for the first time since 1982.

But aid agencies have criticized the fact that neither the head of the World Bank or the IMF, or many other world leaders from rich countries, have come to the talks.

“The fact that so few world leaders have chosen to travel to Doha is a real cause for concern,” said Ariane Arpa of Oxfam.

Promises, promises

Six years ago, rich countries pledged to double their aid efforts to ensure that the poor countries reach their millennium development goals of halving poverty by 2015.

But UN figures show that the developed countries have only committed $20bn of the $50bn they promised at the G8 summit in 2005, leaving them far short of the $130bn that will be needed if the millennium development goals are to be met.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick said he would accelerate the disbursement of $42bn it has available to support low-income (IDA) countries over the next three years.

But Christian Aid and ActionAid are concerned that the present financial crisis will be used by rich countries as an excuse to renege on aid commitments.

The mood of the meeting is likely to be in sharp contrast to the first Financing for Development summit in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2002, when President George W Bush unexpectedly promised to double US development aid.

Developing countries are also looking to play a bigger role in discussions designed to restructure the world financial system.

The G20, which met in Washington earlier in November, includes some major emerging market countries, but does not represent the very poorest nations.

Some developing countries and aid agencies would also like the meeting to tackle the issues of tax evasion by multinationals and capital flight.

Meanwhile, discussions will be taking place in Geneva about plans to re-launch the world trade talks, which stalled in the summer because of a dispute over farming tariff protection for poor countries.

WTO boss Pascal Lamy has said it is essential that world leaders show their commitment to developing country growth through aid and trade.

Economy boost for Spain and Italy

Italy and Spain have both been hit hard by the global economic slowdown.

Spain and Italy have announced plans worth billions of euros to kick-start their economies.

Italy approved an 80bn euro ($102bn;£66bn) emergency package that included tax breaks for poorer families, public works projects and mortgage relief.

Spain unveiled an 11bn euro plan aimed at creating 300,000 jobs.

The announcements are the latest in a series of attempts by EU governments to shore up their economies as the financial crisis bites.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called on to Italians to keep on spending.

“We have helped citizens, the less well off, so that they can continue to consume,” he said.

“The intensity and duration of the crisis depends on all of us.”

Spain’s Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said the money will be mainly invested in infrastructure and public works.

Spain’s unemployment reached 12.8% in October – the highest in the eurozone.

Construction crisis

The Spanish government said it would invest 0.8bn euros in the ailing car industry, which has been through a severe downturn and seen sales plummet 54.6% since the beginning of the year.

The construction industry has also been severely hit by the financial crisis, with property prices falling and companies slashing thousands of jobs.

The Spanish economy shrank by 0.2% in the third quarter, putting an end to 15 years of continuous growth.

The European Commission has demanded that each EU member must spend about 1.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or economic output, to fight the economic slowdown.

Spain’s plan is worth 1.1% of its GDP.

Germany launched a similar 50bn euro package, while next week France is expected to unveil economic measures worth 20bn euros.

Babcock Shares Slump After Wachovia’s Warning on Loan

Babcock & Brown Ltd., the worst performing stock on the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index this year, fell to a record low in Sydney after Wachovia Corp. said it may seize collateral on a $112 million loan.

The 14 percent drop in Babcock shares came even as the company announced the sale of its Enersis wind energy business in Portugal for about 1.15 billion euros ($1.4 billion). Proceeds of A$285.8 million ($182 million) from that sale won’t go toward fulfilling an agreement made in June with lenders to repay A$400 million of debt, spokeswoman Erica Borgelt said.

Babcock has lost 64 percent since Nov. 6, when ABN Amro Holding NV analyst John Heagerty said the company may breach loan agreements because the global credit crisis has made selling assets harder. Babcock is competing with distressed sellers to avoid the fate of Allco Finance Group Ltd., the Sydney-based manager of infrastructure funds that was placed in the hands of outside managers this month.

“Babcock’s already gone. It’s in liquidation mode,” said Donald Williams, chief investment officer at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. in Sydney, which oversees the equivalent of about $768 million. “It’s at the same point that Allco was six months ago — with its bankers keeping it going for as long as they can get some of their debt back.”

The shares slumped to 41 Australian cents as at the 4:10 p.m. close of trading after Babcock said it may lose as much as $41 million on its venture with GPT, an Australian real estate investment trust. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia may liquidate assets put up as security for the loan after the joint venture ignored demands to provide more collateral, according to today’s statement.

Wind Sale

Babcock owns properties ranging from industrial and urban projects in Italy to 28,000 apartments in the U.S. Babcock said last year the value of its stake in European and U.S. real estate held in a venture with GPT Group fell by 18 percent to A$6.6 billion.

Babcock in December 2005 bought the Enersis project for 490 million euros and then sold half to affiliate Babcock & Brown Wind Partners. The company plans to sell its remaining stakes in wind assets in Portugal, France, Greece and Germany, it said today. Enersis was bought by investors led by Magnum Capital, which is based in Madrid and Lisbon.

Babcock & Brown Wind Partners said in a separate statement today it will receive net cash proceeds of about A$274 million from the sale of its 50 percent stake, on which it made a loss of A$11.7 million. The sale will cut debt by about A$718 million, Babcock Wind said. The wind fund’s shares rose 3.1 percent to 82 Australian cents.

`Extremely Difficult’

Babcock & Brown’s fight to avoid becoming Australia’s next victim of the credit crisis may depend on convincing bankers that it can sell assets in a market where others have failed. Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group, one of Babcock’s 12 publicly traded funds, said Nov. 5 that divestments are “extremely difficult.”

Analysts, including Shaw Stockbroking Ltd.’s Scott Marshall and Wise-Owl.com’s Tim Morris, say little would be left for shareholders should banks call in their loans.

Allco Finance, which like Babcock piled on debt to buy assets and spin them off to investors when credit was cheap, handed over operations to Tony McGrath and Joseph Hayes of corporate advisory firm McGrathNicol & Partners this month after failing to repay banks on time. So did ABC Learning Centres Ltd., the world’s biggest publicly traded childcare provider.

Putnam Eliminates 47 Jobs, Merges Mutual Funds to Cut Costs

Putnam Investments, the asset- management arm of Canadian insurer Great-West Lifeco Inc., will cut about 1.9 percent of staff, including portfolio managers, to improve returns and reduce costs.

Twelve money managers are being dismissed and 35 other staff positions will be eliminated, Boston-based Putnam said in an e-mailed statement. Putnam has about 2,500 employees.

Chief Executive Officer Robert Reynolds, the former vice chairman of Fidelity Investments who joined Putnam in July, is seeking to reverse investment losses and client defections that have lowered assets under management by 39 percent since September 2007 to $116 billion.

“It became clear to me was that we had too many people in the decision-making process,” Reynolds said in a telephone interview. “The whole goal here is to enhance investment results for our clients. A lack of ownership really hindered Putnam in doing what we are supposed to be doing, which is delivering results for our clients.”

Reynolds declined to identify the managers who are being dismissed. The fund mergers will be completed within two months. Funds being merged into bigger products include Putnam Capital Appreciation, Putnam Classic Equity and Putnam Discovery Growth.

Shareholders in the funds are “generally expected” to pay reduced expense ratios, Putnam said.

After hiring six senior stock analysts since the start of the year, Putnam plans to add five to 15 people to expand its investment team, Reynolds said today. The company is planning to introduce 10 funds in January, including a family of “absolute- return” funds and global-industry funds, Reynolds said.

Putnam recorded third-quarter net outflows of $13.3 billion and contributed a net loss of $22 million to Great-West’s earnings, the Winnipeg-based insurer said Oct. 30. A year earlier, Putnam contributed profit of $15 million.

Tepper, Barakett Abandon Stocks as Hedge Funds Shrink Holdings

Tepper, Barakett Abandon Stocks as Hedge Funds Shrink Holdings

Hedge-fund manager David Tepper entered the third quarter with $3.1 billion of U.S. stocks and exited with $648 million, selling most holdings to reduce risk and raise cash as carnage spread across the financial markets.

“We moved a lot out early because we didn’t want to lose money,” said Tepper, 51, president of Appaloosa Management LP in Chatham, New Jersey. The firm, which switched some money to bonds, has between 30 percent and 40 percent of assets in cash.

The story at Appaloosa, whose returns have dropped more than 20 percent this year, was repeated across the hedge-fund world in the quarter as managers were hit by client withdrawals, tumbling financial markets and tighter credit. Regulatory filings last week by 38 hedge funds with more than $1 billion in assets each show that selling and market declines cut the value of their reported holdings by about 30 percent to $273 billion.

The $1.7 trillion industry, which accounts for about a third of U.S. equity trading, continued to retrench in the past two months, contributing to the 25 percent decline by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since Sept. 30. At least 75 funds have liquidated or halted redemptions this year. With the Nov. 15 deadline for year-end withdrawal requests now past, fund managers may be forced to unload more stocks to pay off clients.

“Hedge funds generally are the tip of the spear in good times and they are also the canary in the cage in tough times,” said Andrew Lo, a finance professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management who also helps run a fund for AlphaSimplex Group LLC in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “They are the first to get hit up with losses and the first to get out.”

Atticus, Tudor

Money managers who oversee more than $100 million of equities more must file, within 45 days of the end of each quarter, a Form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission that lists their U.S. exchange-traded stocks, options and convertible bonds. The filings don’t show non-U.S. securities or how much cash the firms are sitting on.

Almost all the major hedge funds submit their reports within a few hours of the deadline, which was Nov. 14 for the third quarter. Managers of the private, largely unregulated pools of capital can buy or sell any assets, bet on falling as well as rising asset prices, and participate substantially in profits from money invested.

Atticus Capital LP, based in New York, disclosed that its holdings declined to $510 million from $8.1 billion. The firm, run by Timothy Barakett, 43, sold out of 39 stocks while adding no new holdings. ConocoPhillips, MasterCard Inc. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. were the three largest positions he exited, with a combined market value of $2.68 billion as of Sept. 30.

In an Oct. 1 letter to investors, David Slager, 36, who manages the Atticus European Fund, told investors that more than 50 percent of his fund was in cash or U.S. Treasuries after he lost 43.5 percent year-to-date.

`Tipping Point’

At Tudor Investment Corp., the Greenwich, Connecticut, hedge-fund group founded by Paul Tudor Jones, 13F holdings fell to $453 million from $5.7 billion. Jones said markets face more selling from managers.

“Our concern now is less over year-end fund redemptions, as record cash balances have already been raised in anticipation, but with prospective fund closures,” Jones, 54, said in an Oct. 31 report to his clients. “This latter event represents a tipping point at which a fund’s call on the market for liquidity goes non-linear.”

Moore, Vinik

SAC Capital Advisors LLC of Stamford, Connecticut, said its holdings were $7.7 billion as of Sept. 30, down from $14.4 billion at June 30. Founder Steven Cohen, 52, had about half the firm’s assets in cash in mid-October, after his main fund fell 5 percent through September.

Louis Bacon’s Moore Capital Management LLC said the value of its 13F securities fell 69 percent to $1.4 billion, while at Jana Partners LLC, a firm overseen by Barry Rosenstein that makes activist investments, they fell to $2.1 billion from $5.9 billion. Both firms are based in New York.

Jeffrey Vinik, who once ran the Fidelity Magellan Fund, disclosed that his Boston-based Vinik Asset Management LP held $1.8 billion at Sept. 30, down from $11.8 billion at June 30.

“Movements in financial markets were so volatile, so unpredictable and so seemingly detached from fundamentals” that many hedge-fund managers “didn’t feel they had an edge,” said Doug Peta, an independent market strategist in New York. “The best thing they could do for their investors was to pull back entirely until markets returned to more of a sense of normalcy.”

Smaller Declines

The largest funds, including those run by David Shaw, Kenneth Griffin and James Simons, reported smaller declines in their holdings. At Griffin’s Chicago-based Citadel Investment Group LLC, holdings listed on Citadel LP’s 13F fell 11 percent to $50.4 billion. Simons’s Renaissance Technologies LLC of East Setauket, New York, reported a 17 percent decline to $37.8 billion. At New York-based D.E. Shaw & Co., the filing showed a 20 percent decrease to $45.4 billion.

Officials at the hedge funds declined to comment on the 13F filings or couldn’t immediately be reached.

This year has been the worst on record for hedge funds, with the average partnership losing 15.5 percent through October, according to data compiled by Hedge Fund Research Inc. Huw Van Steenis, a Morgan Stanley analyst in London, told clients last month that client withdrawals and market losses may cut industry assets some 25 percent to $1.3 trillion during the current quarter.

Borrowing Squeezed

Some managers sold stocks to build cash that they can use to meet client withdrawals triggered by subpar returns. Even managers who are outperforming have gotten redemptions because their clients need cash and their other funds are frozen.

Funds have also been forced to pare their holdings as prime-brokerage units of investment banks cut back on lending and raise the price of the loans they are willing to make. And many funds may have sold stocks as the quickest and easiest way to raise cash to pay down loans on bets on other assets that had dropped in value, such as energy futures, said Leon Metzger, a former hedge fund executive.

“If you bought oil at $140, you had some margin calls,” said Metzger, who now teaches courses on hedge-fund management at several colleges including Yale University. “What you have to do is sell your liquid securities so you can post more collateral.”

Bank of America, Hospitality, Walt Disney: U.S. Equity Movers

The following companies are having unusual price changes in U.S. trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are as of 10:15 a.m. in New York.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (A:US) fell 7.9 percent to $19.11 and earlier dropped 9.9 percent for the biggest intraday loss in a month. The largest maker of scientific-testing equipment had its stock-price estimate cut to $28 from $32 at Merrill Lynch & Co., which said the company may face slowing, or even falling, sales amid an economic slump.

Alcoa Inc. (AA:US) fell the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, losing 7.6 percent to $1002. The largest U.S. aluminum producer was lowered to “neutral” from “buy” at UBS AG on “uncertainty” in the aluminum market.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC:US) had the second-biggest drop in the Dow average, slipping 5.5 percent to $15.52. The lender that’s buying Merrill Lynch & Co. plans to almost double its stake in China Construction Bank Corp. to about 19.1 percent, ending speculation the company might sell some of its holding to raise money in response to the global financial crisis.

Citigroup Inc. (C:US) lost 4 percent to $9.14 for the fourth-largest drop in the Dow average. The fourth-biggest U.S. bank by market value plans to eliminate 50,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of the workforce as of Sept. 30, and cut expenses by about 20 percent from their peak.

General Motors Corp. (GM:US) gained the most in the Dow average, advancing 15 percent to $3.47. The largest U.S. automaker plans to sell its stake in Suzuki Motor Corp., raising 22.4 billion yen ($230 million) as it tries to avoid a collapse. Separately, GM’s Opel will hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel today on receiving government financial support.

Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW:US) climbed the most in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, jumping 18 percent to $1.73. The insurer spun off from General Electric Co. said it’s negotiating to buy a Minnesota savings and loan to get funds from the U.S. government rescue program.

Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT:US) rose 11 percent to $10.79. The real estate investment trust based in Newton, Massachusetts was boosted to “equal weight” from “underweight” by Morgan Stanley.

United Therapeutics Corp. (UTHR:US) slumped 36 percent to $57.52 and earlier retreated 38 percent for the biggest loss since October 2001. The Silver Spring, Maryland-based drugmaker said a drug called treprostinil failed in a study to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Walt Disney Co. (DIS:US) had the third-biggest decline in the Dow average, losing 4.9 percent to $20.04. The biggest theme-park operator was cut to “hold” from “buy” by analyst Laura Martin at Soleil Securities.

Bush defends free-market system

US President George W Bush has admitted the financial system needs reforming, but insists the credit crunch was not a failure of the free-market system.

Speaking in New York, Mr Bush said that while financial markets did need some new regulation and more transparency, free trade should not be restricted.

His comments come before world leaders meet in Washington at the weekend to discuss the global economic downturn.

Mr Bush said bold government measures had already helped improve matters.

Yet he said state action was not a “cure-all”, and what was now needed was a reform of the global economy “without trying to re-invent the system”.

It would a terrible mistake to allow a few months of crisis to undermine 60 years of success President Bush

He has called for improved accountancy rules, better co-ordination of national laws and regulations, and making the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund more representative.

Mr Bush’s comments seemed to please investors, as America’s main Dow Jones index ended up 6.7%.

However, analysts said most of the gain was due to bargain hunters picking up cheap stocks following three straight days of falls.

‘Fix problems’

Returning to the cause of the credit crunch, Mr Bush admitted that failures had been made “by lenders and borrowers, by financial firms, by governments and independent regulators”.

But that the answer was “not to try to reinvent the system”.

Instead, he said the solution was to “fix the problems we face, make the reforms we need, and move forward with the free market principles that have delivered prosperity and hope to people around the world”.

He added that while capitalism was “not perfect”, it was “by far the most efficient and just way of structuring an economy”.

“It would a terrible mistake to allow a few months of crisis to undermine 60 years of success,” said President Bush.

Global reform

Ahead of the summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the US dollar was no longer “the only global currency”.

Speaking in Paris, Mr Sarkozy said times had changed since the Bretton Woods conference after World War II laid the foundations of modern financial institutions.

“What was true in 1945 can no longer be true today,” he said.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said the strength of the euro was making it more attractive than before.

But she cautioned creating further instability through a major shift in central banks’ currency reserves.

The summit in Washington brings together leaders of the world’s biggest democracies, emerging nations and international organizations.

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How have you been affected by the economic downturn where you live? What can world leaders do at the summit meeting to help you?

Pakistani currency dealers held

Munaf Kalia is at the center of a nationwide investigation

Two directors of a Pakistani currency company have been remanded in custody over allegations that they illegally transferred millions of dollars abroad.

The two directors of Khanani and Kalia International (KKI), one of the biggest foreign exchange companies, were arrested on Saturday.

Their company’s license to trade has also been suspended for a month and its offices have been searched.

Pakistan’s economy is in crisis and the IMF is preparing a rescue package.

Inflation is running at 25%, and there has been a collapse in the value of its stock market and currency.

There are also massive trade and budget deficits, plunging foreign currency reserves and capital flight.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have dropped

The government in Islamabad needs to find $5bn this month if it is to avoid defaulting on foreign loans.

Officials say that the activities of Munaf Kalia and Javed Khanani – arrested in Karachi and Lahore respectively – may have contributed to a big reduction of the country’s foreign exchange reserves, which have depleted from over $16bn in October 2007 to below $7bn today.

The authorities say the flood of money out of the country has also caused an enormous drop in the value of the rupee. At the beginning of the year it was trading at 65 to the dollar. Last month it fell to a record low of 90 to the dollar.

Few details of the charges against the KKI duo have been released. Investigators have seized a computer which they say may have details of transfers to accounts in the Gulf, Europe and the US.

German economy now in recession

The German economy is likely to shrink again in the fourth quarter

Germany has entered a recession after government figures showed that the country’s economy contracted by 0.5% in the third quarter.

This is the second consecutive quarter that the economy has shrunk after a 0.4% contraction in the second quarter.

The fall in economic output was greater than many analysts had expected.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has also forecast a fall in Euro area economic activity of 0.5% next year.

Last week, official figures showed that German industrial output fell 3.6% in September compared with August.

“A negative effect on gross domestic product came from foreign trade, with a strong increase in imports and weakening exports,” the Federal Statistics Office said.

The last time that the German economy was in recession was the first half of 2003.

Anecdotal evidence and leading indicators are scary Carsten Brzeski, ING Financial Markets

“This confirms the German economy is in a marked slump,” said Klaus Schruefer at SEB. “We will definitely get a further contraction in the fourth quarter, probably of a similar order,” he added.

Worse to come

That pessimistic outlook was echoed by Sebastian Wanke at Dekabank: “There won’t be an improvement in the fourth quarter. The situation will only get worse.”

Such gloomy predictions are based on the glut of recent indicators showing a slowdown in the German economy.

Orders for goods produced by the world’s largest exporter fell 8% between August and September, according to the economy ministry in Berlin. Orders from outside Europe fell 11.4%, while domestic orders dropped 4.3%.

“Anecdotal evidence and leading indicators are scary,” said Carsten Brzeski at ING Financial Markets.

The European Central Bank also released its quarterly survey of forecasters on Thursday. It showed a cut in the average 2009 growth outlook to just 0.3%, from the 1.3% forecast in the last survey released in August.

“In the view of the governing council, a number of the downside risks to economic activity identified earlier have materialized,” said the report.

Market reaction

The Dax index of leading German shares fell 43 points to 4,578 in the opening minutes, but recovered to 4,669 in early morning trading, up 48 points on the day.

The Cac 40 index in Paris rose 25 points to 3,259 in early trading.

The reaction of European markets was encouraging, given the heavy falls in Asian markets overnight. The Nikkei index in Japan closed down 5.3%, while markets in South Korea, Hong Kong and Australia all fell between 3% and 6%.

The falls were triggered by a sharp drop in the Dow Jones index of 4.7%, following the US Treasury’s announcement on Wednesday that it would be focusing on taking stakes in banks rather than buying up their toxic debt.

Japan’s phone firms eye global move

Many Japanese commuters use their phone as their rail ticket

“There is no way I can live without my phone,” says Japanese salaryman Yuichi Koizumi.

It’s not an unusual claim around the globe, but he really means it.

His handset is not an ordinary smart phone.

As well as the usual music player, camera and web browser, Mr Koizumi also uses it as a television, credit card, and train and plane ticket.

“It’s my life.”

Others in Japan also use their mobile phones to navigate their way home by global positioning system, or to buy cinema tickets and to update personal blogs from wherever they are.

But these technologies are nothing new in Japan. The country has had next generation mobile services for almost a decade.

Weak iPhone sales

Japan also leads the rest of the world in 3G (third generation) mobile phone proliferation, with almost 104 million 3G handsets in use.

Japanese phones lead the way when it comes to new technologies

So Apple’s iPhone, in comparison, is nothing revolutionary – as Apple’s chief executive Steve Jobs described the phone.

The Japanese are clearly not as impressed as global consumers, and sales of the iPhone have slumped by a third only a few months after its launch.

Japanese consumers have also shied away from the phone because of its high price.

Softbank makes a 16-gigabyte iPhone phone available for about 80,000 yen, ($800; £503), while the cheapest Japanese smart phones are sold from just over $300.

‘Too advanced’

But a bigger question is; why have Japanese mobile technologies so far failed to woo global consumers?

Japanese phones can be used to make payments

“It’s too early to judge,” says Kiyoyuki Tsujimura, a senior executive of the country’s largest mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo.

“Japan’s technologies have been too advanced, but as the rest of the world catches up, there will be more opportunities for us to export our technologies,” adds Mr Tsujimura.

The government shares Mr Tsujimura’s view, and recently announced that it will start an aggressive push to market its mobile technology abroad.

It believes the nation’s popular wallet phone can be a global hit.

The technology relies on a tiny computer chip called FeliCa, embedded in each cell phone. It communicates with a reader-device at stores, train stations and vending machines for cashless payments.

But as government official Masayuki Ito admits, “Japanese mobile technology tends to be quirky,” and may not be perceived well by global consumers.

And in the era of the iPhone – and with rivals in South Korea expanding more aggressively than ever, Japan’s efforts may have come a little too late.