Japan’s plan to tighten a threshold for shareholder proposals would hurt retail investors while having little impact on institutional activist investors, according to Seth Fischer, the founder of Oasis Management.

The government floated a plan in March to raise the bar for exercising shareholder proposal rights to those holding at least 1% of voting rights, from the current threshold of 300 voting rights. A similar proposal was also made by some lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democrat Party in May.

Most activist shareholder proposals are submitted by investors holding more than 1% of voting rights, Fischer said, adding that Oasis typically holds stakes of 5%, 10%, 15% or even 20% when making proposals. The fund’s disclosed investments in Japan total ¥1.7 trillion ($10.7 billion), data shows.

“It is designed so that only rich people or only funds should have a say and not individuals,” Fischer said in an interview Wednesday. “I don’t like it.”

The move comes amid concerns in Japan’s business community that current rules enable “abusive” shareholder proposals because only a small investment is needed to gain proposal rights. Debate is intensifying, with the LDP holding a panel meeting this week on the issue.

Oasis — one of Japan’s most active activist investors, with disclosed stakes in 35 domestic companies including Kao and Nidec — has stepped up campaigns ahead of next month’s annual shareholder meeting season. The Hong Kong-based hedge fund submitted shareholder proposals at Kyocera, seeking the removal of Chairman Goro Yamaguchi and ¥350 billion in share buybacks for the fiscal year ending March 2027.

It has also proposed the removal of Kadokawa President Takeshi Natsuno and urged Tokyo Steel Manufacturing shareholders to vote against the reappointment of President Nobuaki Nara.

While shareholder proposals from activists and other investors are usually voted down, they have attracted growing support in recent years.

At Kao’s extraordinary shareholder meeting in April, Oasis won 30% support for a proposal urging the company to investigate supply-chain risk management systems. Some institutional investors, including Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, backed the proposal. Oasis holds 12.5% of Kao’s voting rights.