KKR asks Fuji Soft to file injunction against Bain's 'breach of NDA' (updated)
06/01/2025 09:56
(Updates company comments and adds context in paragraphs 4-6)
By Anton Bridge
TOKYO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity fund KKR
KKR.N said on Monday it has asked Fuji Soft 9749.T to make a
court filing to stop what it said was Bain Capital's violation
of a non-disclosure agreement amid Bain and KKR's acquisition
battle for the software maker.
In a letter to Fuji Soft, KKR asked the Japanese company to
file an injunction to halt Bain Capital's "continued breach of
its non-disclosure agreement".
KKR and Bain are trying to buy Fuji Soft in competing tender
offer bids worth as much as $2 billion.
The request by KKR ramps up the acrimony between two of the
biggest names in global private equity in their tug-of-war for
Fuji Soft.
Fuji Soft and Bain declined to comment.
It is notable that the contentious scramble is playing out
in public in Japan - a market where hostile bids have only
become more common in recent years and where most takeovers are
still done on a friendly basis.
New takeover guidelines introduced by the industry ministry
to spur corporate takeovers have begun to remove the long-held
stigma around unsolicited bids and encouraged lenders to finance
such proposals.
Fuji Soft's board has come out in support of KKR's lower bid
and demanded that Bain destroy the confidential information it
compiled during due diligence, but Bain proceeded with its bid,
now hostile, saying there was no reason for its higher offer to
be rejected.
Bain has said Fuji Soft is disregarding the interests of
shareholders and that it wanted to continue using the
information to launch its tender offer. Fuji Soft's founding
family has said it supports Bain's bid.
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim and Anton Bridge; Editing by
Christian Schmollinger and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
((ran.kim@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-4520-1228;))