Prime Highlights
- LY Corp and Bain Capital raised their bid for Kakaku.com to 670 billion yen, or about $4.12 billion.
- Kakaku.com shifted its stance to neutral and will hold talks with both LY-Bain and EQT.
Key Facts
- Kakaku.com operates price-comparison, restaurant review and job-search platforms in Japan.
- The revised offer values shares at 3,384 yen each, up from 3,232 yen proposed in May.
Background
SoftBank’s LY Corp and Bain Capital have raised their takeover bid for Japanese price-comparison website operator Kakaku.com, valuing the company at 670 billion yen, or roughly $4.12 billion. The move widens the gap over a competing offer from Sweden’s EQT.
In a legally binding proposal announced this week, LY and Bain said they would increase their offer for all outstanding Kakaku.com shares to 3,384 yen each, up from the 3,232 yen per share proposed in May. Following the revised bid, Kakaku.com said it would pursue further discussions with EQT over its offer price of 3,000 yen per share, while continuing to support the Swedish firm’s proposal. The company withdrew its shareholder recommendation backing EQT’s bid, shifting to a neutral stance and confirming it would engage in talks with both bidders.
The competing offers come amid a surge in mergers and acquisitions activity in Japan, driven by governance reforms encouraging more companies to go private. Private equity firms have led several major deals in the country recently, including a competitive bid last year for software developer Fuji Soft.
LY and Bain said their offer could rise further to 3,500 yen per share if KDDI Corp, one of Kakaku.com’s largest shareholders, agreed to support the bid. The companies added that improved capital investment and management support could boost profitability across Kakaku’s businesses, which include restaurant review platform Tabelog and job-search service Kyujin Box. LY and Bain said they would not proceed with their offer without support from Kakaku.
