Third Point's Loeb: BOJ move will have "positive" impact for markets

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Lawrence Delevingne

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb, whose Third Point has recently pushed for change at Japanese companies, on Wednesday said he approved of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy move but added corporate reform is still needed to help revive growth.

The central bank announced earlier on Wednesday it would target interest rates on government bonds and Loeb said the move will have "very positive implications for the market."

Loeb, whose $16 billion Third Point has been investing in Japan for years, was speaking at the Reuters Newsmaker event featuring Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

After making bets on Japanese companies ranging from Sony Corp , to robot maker Fanuc Corp and most recently retailer Seven & i Holdings Co Ltd , Loeb said foreign investors are being welcomed more now. Some large Japanese institutions agreed with his views, Loeb said, noting he has "allies" in Japan and "our interests are aligned."

 

But he also said the potential for increased government protection of small and medium-sized companies was misguided. "Let the market determine where workers' labor is best allocated, let people who allocate capital determine that," Loeb said.

As Japan struggles to reignite growth, Loeb said central bankers around the world, including in Japan, had relied for too long on monetary policy to stimulate economic growth. "We must take the crack cocaine pipe away," Loeb said riffing off the saying popularized by one central banker that he and his colleagues needed to take away the punch bowl.

Third Point's returns have climbed 7 percent this year. Loeb said he had looked at investing in Nintendo Co Ltd but stopped short. He said he approves of the company's expansion into mobile technologies.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Lawrence Delevingne; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)