As Astellas's move shows, Japanese companies are taking to the idea of acquiring coveted brands

As Astellas's move shows, Japanese companies are taking to the idea of acquiring coveted brands, technology or market presence - by force if need be.Indeed, Fujitsu, the IT services company, launched an unsuccessful bid for French IT services group GFI Informatique in 2007.That was followed by Sumitomo Heavy's hostile bid for Axcelis Technologies in the US. This kind of unfriendly Christian Louboutin Double Platform Sandal is still rare for Japanese companies.But the willingness of established companies such as Astellas and Fujitsu to go hostile, if only in overseas markets, goes a long way towards lowering the cultural barriers to hostile bids back home.Even amid the global financial turmoil, M&A activity involving Japanese companies has held steady.Globalisation and a shrinking domestic market have forced Japanese Christian Louboutin to consider all options for survival, including Christian Louboutin Sandals white unthinkable ones.Last year, the value of M&A deals worldwide halved from levels seen in 2007, according to analysts, while those involving Japanese companies dropped a less dramatic 18 per cent.Japanese companies are unlikely to become as aggressively acquisitive as their western counterparts in the near future.But the days are already past when Japanese companies were stigmatised for going hostile.Timing is everythingMikhail Prokhorov last year became Russia's richest oligarch and the 40th richest man in the world with an estimated fortune of $9.5bn, according to the 2009 Forbes rich list.This was largely because the metals and mining tycoon sold his 25 per cent stake in Norilsk Nickel in the nick of time to another oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, before the world Christian Louboutin Sandals pink market made a turn for the worse.But the 44-year-old Russian has not been so lucky with his extravagant foray into the property market on the French Riviera.At a time when Russian oligarchs were all engaged in a one-upmanship competition to buy the best and most expensive properties on the Riviera, Mr Prokhorov seemed to have clinched the biggest prize of all by agreeing to acquire the world's most expensive villa.Back in 2008 he put down a deposit of about EUR39m - the standard French 10 per cent deposit on the property's EUR390m purchase price - for the magnificent Belle Epoque villa Leopolda on Cap Ferrat that had originally been built for King Leopold II of Belgium.