"Atlantis Japan Growth will subdivide their shares into 10 and change their unit of quotation on LSE from USD to GBP - I think the effective date is 8th April or thereabouts. There is also going to be a bonus issue in subscription shares on a one for five basis.

"So a holder of 1,000 now will shortly hold 10,000 plus 2,000 subscription shares. The subscription price will be 1% above NAV on 30th March and is fixed for the life of this issue - just over seven years. Atlantis do not seem very interested in repurchasing shares at a discount, or discount protection mechanisms. So there would be little to stop the shares trading at a premium whenever Japan attracts significant equity investment inflows.

"Ed Merner [AJG's manager] was in London recently and it was interesting to gain his perspective, especially on the Japanese labour market. "Jobs for life" have gradually been replaced by short term contracts, e.g. Canon has about 70% of its Japanese workforce on contract. Also price to book seems relatively attractive both within the TOPIX and TSE2 when compared with non bubble peaks during the last 10 - 15 years."

David Fuller's view Many thanks for this informative email, contributed in the spirit of Empowerment Through Knowledge.