I reckon
the readers of my blog will be familiar with my investment gurus, namely Peter
Cundill, Walter Schloss, Jean- Marie Eveillard, and many others coming from
Grahamanddoddsville.
But have you ever heard of Hiroto Kiritani? Until very recently me
neither. Mr. Kiritani used to be a top-ranked Japanese player of shogi (kind of
an east Asian version of chess). More than a decade ago Mr. Kiritani jumped ship,
reinventing himself as an investment guru for retail investors in a weird corner of the Japanese
investment universe called 株主優待 “kabunushi yuutai”
(= “hospitality”).
“Yuutai” is a special shareholder benefit. Such shareholder perks are not unheard of in the west, but they are rare. In the UK, about 40 public companies provide special benefit plans to its shareholders. In the US blue chip companies like Ford, Carnival and Kimberly Clark are known for the handouts to their shareholders. To the “value investing” community the most familiar will be those offered during Berkshire Hathaway’s AGM: Discounts at Geico Insurance; large price reductions on merchandise from Borsheims Fine Jewelry & Gifts and Nebraska Furniture Mart.