*

Toyota Industries' ( TYIDF ) climb above revised offer price

*

Elliott proposes growth plan to double Toyota Industries' ( TYIDF )

value

by 2028

*

Toyota Motor ( TM ) aware of Elliott's letter, continues to

monitor

situation

(Adds Toyota Motor and Toyota Industries ( TYIDF ) statements in

paragraphs 8-9)

By Anton Bridge

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Activist investor Elliott Investment

Management on Sunday said the Toyota Group's bid to take ‌Toyota

Industries private undervalues the forklift maker by

almost 40% and proposed a growth plan that it said would more

than double ​the company's value by 2028.

Elliott called on shareholders not to tender into last

week's ‍revised 18,800 ($119.24) yen per share offer by Toyota

Motor ( TM ), group company ⁠Toyota Fudosan and ⁠Toyota chairman

Akio Toyoda.

The take-private plan, first proposed last June at 16,300

yen per share, has come under fire from ‌investors criticising

what they argued was an opaque valuation ​methodology and a

process that failed to protect minority shareholder interests.

Pressure on the world's largest automaker increased after

Elliott, one of the world's most ⁠prominent activist hedge funds,

disclosed its stake in ‍November. Its ​stake stood above 5% in

December.

Elliott said it is now Toyota Industries' ( TYIDF ) largest minority

shareholder.

Elliott also said that it had been discussing a "standalone

plan" - involving unwinding cross-shareholdings, improving

governance ‍and margins - with the company's board and special

committee that would achieve a valuation of 40,000 yen per share

by 2028.

Toyota Industries ( TYIDF ) could also improve capital allocation by

ceasing overinvestment in the automotive segment, Elliott added.

Toyota Motor ( TM ) said in a statement that it was aware of

Elliott's open letter and would continue to closely monitor the

situation.

In statements matching ​comments from ‍last week, Toyota

Fudosan and Toyota Industries ( TYIDF ) said they believed the latest

offer price represented a level that reflected the company's

intrinsic value, and would engage in ​sincere dialogue with

investors. Toyota Fudosan added that it had had thorough

discussions with the firm about it.

Toyota Industries' ( TYIDF ) share price has traded above the

revised offer price since last week and closed at 19,510 yen per

share on Monday.

Elliott said its analysis showed Toyota Industries' ( TYIDF )

intrinsic net asset value to be more than 26,134 yen per share,

as of January 16.

"If the Revised TOB is allowed ​to succeed, it will result in

a substantial and potentially irreversible setback for Japan's

corporate governance reforms and dampen investor interest in the

Japanese market," Elliott said in its letter.

($1 = 157.6700 yen)