Trailblazer or lone wolf? Japan’s maiden triangular merger – the inelegant name given to cross-border mergers carried out via a local subsidiary using shares as acquisition capital – took place last year. Citigroup, the US bank, paid $13.4bn in a tender offer for Nikko Cordial, Japan’s number three securities firm.

Triangular mergers had a difficult gestation in Japan. Domestic businesses griped that the mechanism would open the floodgates to foreign takeovers; the foreign business lobby, meanwhile, complained that the legislation was so riddled with obstacles it was practically unworkable.