H.I.S. says abandons bid to increase stake in Unizo
24/08/2019 04:33
TOKYO, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Japanese travel agent H.I.S. Co
9603.T said on Saturday it is abandoning its quest to increase
its stake in Unizo Holdings 3258.T , leaving SoftBank's
investment firm as the solo bidder for the hotel chain.
H.I.S., which already owns 4.79% in Unizo, last month
launched the tender offer to buy about 40% of Unizo shares at
3,100 yen apiece.
H.I.S. said in a statement no shares were tendered to its
offer that ran until Friday.
Unizo had rejected H.I.S.'s offer. Instead it backed the bid
by Fortress Investment Group, a SoftBank Group 9984.T -owned
asset manager, which offered to buy all the shares in Unizo for
4,000 yen apiece.
The tug-of-war over Unizo has marked a stark departure from
most acquisitions in Japan, where takeovers tend to be
pre-agreed deals waiting to be rubber-stamped.
Fortress could be pressured by minority shareholders to
raise its offer price, market participants had said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N25J1C7
($1 = 106.6200 yen)
(Reporting by Junko Fujita
Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
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Messaging:junko.fujita.reuters.com@reuters.net;))