Director, CIO

Director, CIO
Yuya Shimizu

Yuya Shimizu is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Hibiki Path Advisors. He has over 18 years of experience investing across distressed debt, real estate, private equity, and public equities. Prior to founding Hibiki in 2015, he held investment roles at Moore Strategic Value Partners (MSVP), Asuka Asset Management, Dalton Investments, and OTS Capital Management.

At MSVP, Yuya led the Corporate Distress Team, pricing over 800 distressed loans and bonds, while also engaging directly with obligors in various restructuring phases. During his time at Asuka, he was a senior member of the private equity team and executed the MBO/TOB of Foodxglobe (Tully’s Coffee Japan) in 2003–2004, leading negotiations with both the founder and lenders.

Yuya is, first and foremost, a passionate long-term value and engagement investor who strives to create sustainable value for both shareholders and the companies themselves. At Dalton, he initiated a pioneering activist strategy targeting Japanese REITs in 2008, delivering over 300% cumulative return. He also served as an independent director of Suntelephone Corp., a company that was later taken private by Bain Capital and Japan Industrial Partners.

In 2020, Yuya was nominated as an independent director candidate for Toshiba Corporation by one of its major shareholders, receiving over 30% support from shareholders—an early milestone in driving governance reform at Japan’s leading corporates.

At Hibiki, he continues to execute constructive engagement strategies backed by deep research, operational insight, and a strong network built over decades. In December 2022, Yuya was elected as an outside director of Fuji Soft Inc. (9749 JT) with 99.3% shareholder approval. During his two and a half years on the board, Fuji Soft successfully internalized all four of its listed subsidiaries via TOB and announced the liquidation of its excess real estate portfolio—decisions in which Yuya played a central role. In May 2025, Fuji Soft was taken private by KKR after a heated bidding contest with Bain Capital.

Yuya started his career at Goldman Sachs Tokyo in 1994, beginning in institutional equity sales before becoming an equity research analyst covering the Construction/Real Estate and Steel/Metal sectors. He holds a BA in Economics from Keio University (1994) and an MSc in Finance from London Business School (2003).

His guiding ambition remains simple yet powerful: to make Japan a better place for both capitalists and corporates. Drawing upon his diverse experience and unmatched network, he continues to lead value-oriented, engagement-based investing with discipline and purpose.