The Singaporean activist fund Effissimo Capital Management has been steadily increasing its stake in the Japanese optical company Tamron, reaching 17.38% (up from 16.34%). This makes Effissimo a primary institutional shareholder, alongside Sony Group Corporation.

Effissimo: 17.38% (29,691,800 shares)
Sony: 15.35% (25,038,000 shares)

DClife reports:

Tamron itself is performing well, and its core photography-related business is investing in a new factory in Vietnam, with plans to release more than 10 lenses annually from fiscal year 2026 onwards. Moreover, the group as a whole is actively investing 22.5 billion yen in research and development.

Effissimo is also adept at increasing corporate value (raising the stock price) through behind-the-scenes dialogue with management, rather than aggressively disrupting the company. Therefore, they probably don’t make overtly hostile shareholder proposals, but rather focus on achieving results.

The astonishing plan to release more than 10 lenses per year might be a positive response (or defense) to the pressure from these funds (demands to increase corporate value instead of letting cash sit idle).

While the shadow of a fund is generally viewed negatively, in Tamron’s current case, it could be said that it’s a positive factor, supporting their aggressive stance such as accelerating development speed and entering the Canon RF mount market. We should keep a close eye on future capital movements and the development of new lenses that will result from them.