Kakaku.com takeover battle intensifies between EQT and Bain Capital

The takeover battle for Kakaku.com, the operator of services such as ‘Tabelog’ and ‘Kakaku.com’, has entered an unusually prolonged phase. Swedish investment fund EQT has announced its sixth extension of its tender offer (TOB), raising the purchase price by a single yen to 3,682 yen per share and extending the period until October 28.

Competing against EQT is a coalition consisting of US-based Bain Capital and LINE Yahoo. This group has proposed a counter-strategy where the tender offer price could rise to 3,720 yen per share, contingent upon securing cooperation from major shareholder KDDI. The competition between EQT’s incremental price increases and the Bain-LINE Yahoo alliance’s conditional pricing models has led to a complex and ongoing struggle for control of the company.