Fortress raises offer for Japan's Unizo by 2.5%, extends bid period (updated)

HIS Co

15/11/2019 02:40

(Recasts, adds background)
    TOKYO, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Fortress Investment Group raised
its bid on Friday for Japanese hotel operator Unizo Holdings
 3258.T  by 2.5% but the offer remains well below both the
current share price and an offer from a rival suitor.
    SoftBank Group-owned  9984.T  Fortress bumped up its bid for
Unizo to 4,100 yen per share from 4,000 yen, or $1.3 billion,
and extended its tender offer period until Nov. 29, a regulatory
filing with the Japanese finance ministry showed.
    That compares with a 5,000 yen-per-share offer by Blackstone
Group  BX.N  and the latest share price of around 4,990 yen in
Tokyo trade on Friday.
    But Fortress said the recent jump in Unizo's share price was
temporary and did not reflect its objective value, the filing
showed. 
    U.S.-based Fortress had emerged in August as a white knight
for the hotelier with a 137 billion yen ($1.3 billion) bid when
Unizo was the target of travel agency H.I.S. Co  9603.T . 
    Unizo later withdrew its support for Fortress.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N25C03N
    It also rejected in October a $1.6 billion offer from
Blackstone. The U.S. private equity firm then doubled down by
saying it would launch a tender offer.
    But Blackstone said last week that Unizo had missed a
deadline to agree with conditions set for its proposed takeover
bid and that the buyout group was prepared to embark on more
talks. Blackstone said it would make an announcement on Monday.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N27N2VW

 (Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Kim Coghill and
Muralikumar Anantharaman)
 ((chris.gallagher@thomsonreuters.com; 81-3-4563-2714;))