Business & Finance
SoftBank's LY, Bain raise Kakaku bid again, widen lead over rival EQT offer
Key Points
SoftBank's LY, Bain raise Kakaku bid again, widen lead over rival EQT offer TOKYO, July 2 : SoftBank's LY Corp and Bain Capital have raised their bid for Kakaku.com again, valuing the Japanese price-comparison website operator at 670 billion yen ($4.12 billion) and widening their lead over a rival offer from Sweden's EQT. In the legally binding offer announced late on Wednesday, LY and Bain said they would raise their bid for all outstanding Kakaku.com shares to 3,384 yen apiece from 3,232...
SoftBank's LY, Bain raise Kakaku bid again, widen lead over rival EQT offer
TOKYO, July 2 : SoftBank's LY Corp and Bain Capital have raised their bid for Kakaku.com again, valuing the Japanese price-comparison website operator at 670 billion yen ($4.12 billion) and widening their lead over a rival offer from Sweden's EQT.
In the legally binding offer announced late on Wednesday, LY and Bain said they would raise their bid for all outstanding Kakaku.com shares to 3,384 yen apiece from 3,232 yen proposed in May.
They said the offer would increase to 3,500 yen per share if KDDI Corp, one of Kakaku.com's biggest shareholders, agrees to support the bid.
In light of the new proposal, Kakaku.com said in a statement on Thursday it would seek discussions with EQT over its offer price, currently at 3,000 yen, while maintaining its support for the Swedish investment firm's bid.
It withdrew its recommendation for shareholders to support that bid, changing its stance to "neutral", adding that it would engage in talks with both bidders.
($1 = 162.4900 yen)