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The Yamauchi No 10 Family Office, a group formed of members of Nintendo's founding family, is looking to buy out marine engineering company Toyo Construction, with the stated aim of helping to make the oceans cleaner, the Financial Times reports (paywall).

The Yamauchi family, who owns and recently renovated Nintendo's original HQ as a boutique hotel, put up an offer to buy the 93-year-old engineering firm back in April. It already has a 27% stake in Toyo Construction, but this offer seeks to buy the company outright and use it to "tackle profound global challenges", chief investment officer Hirowaka Murakami says.

Hiroshi Yamauchi, great-grandson of Nintendo's founder, was Nintendo's longest-sitting president and one of Japan's wealthiest individuals thanks to the company's success both while he was there and afterwards as Nintendo's largest shareholder. His grandson, Banjo Yamauchi (namesake of Rare's famous bird-carrying bear), formed the Family Office in 2020.

The Yamauchi Family Office uses its investment returns to finance start-ups and fund organisations working for charitable causes, such as cleaning up the planet (Astroscale) or making more sustainable products (Nature's Fynd), with the stated intention of creating "value" through philanthropic investment.

Murakami says that they see potential in the maritime engineering company's technology to help keep the ocean more sustainable. Toyo Construction has since tried to sell itself to a rival at a much lower price in an attempt to block the takeover. The Yamauchi Office, which is offering to buy Toyo at ¥1,000 per share, insists that it wants to reach a deal through dialogue, as opposed to a hostile takeover. Back in June, Toyo Construction abandoned a shareholder vote on whether or not it wanted to block the buyout again.

On the Yamauchi No 10 Family Office's rather fancy, colourful website, the company states that it is "constantly looking for new meaning in our assets", and that it will use its investments to "drive innovation in Japan".

Any thoughts on this potential buyout? Or are you just leaving the Yamauchi website on in the background to listen to that catchy arcade-style music? Let us know what you'd do if you had a whole bunch of Nintendo money below.

[source ft.com]