European private equity fund EQT raised its tender offer for Japanese price-comparison website operator Kakaku.com to ¥3,450 per share on Friday [1].
This bidding war signals an aggressive push by foreign private equity to acquire dominant digital infrastructure in Japan. The competition for Kakaku.com reflects the growing strategic value of data-heavy platforms that control consumer purchasing decisions in the Japanese market.
EQT increased its offer from a previous bid of ¥3,000 per share [1]. The new price of ¥3,450 [1] tops a competing proposal from a consortium consisting of Bain Capital and LY Corp, a subsidiary of SoftBank, which had offered ¥3,384 per share [3].
Earlier this month, the LY Corp and Bain Capital consortium had attempted to widen its lead over EQT [4]. That consortium had previously valued Kakaku.com at ¥670 billion, or approximately $4.12 billion [4].
EQT said the higher price was intended to reduce uncertainty and facilitate the timely completion of the transaction. The fund also said the revised offer provides a fair premium to shareholders [2, 5].
Kakaku.com operates as a central hub for Japanese consumers to compare prices across various product categories. The platform's ability to aggregate market data makes it a high-value target for investment firms looking to expand their footprint in East Asian e-commerce.
“EQT raised its tender offer for Japanese price-comparison website operator Kakaku.com to ¥3,450 per share”
The escalation of this tender offer highlights a shift in the Japanese M&A landscape, where global private equity firms are willing to engage in high-premium bidding wars to secure market-leading digital assets. By outbidding a SoftBank-linked entity, EQT is demonstrating a willingness to pay a significant premium to overcome local corporate alliances, potentially triggering further foreign investment into Japan's tech sector.
