Japan's Unizo says rejected bids from local fund, Blackstone

HIS Co

10/10/2019 10:15

TOKYO, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Japanese hotel chain Unizo
Holdings  3258.T  on Thursday said it had rejected buyout
proposals from a "locally renowned" fund as well as U.S. private
equity firm Blackstone Group  BX.N , adding to a list of spurned
suitors.
    Unizo said the fund, which it did not name, offered to buy
it at between 4,500 yen and 5,000 yen a share. That compared
with its closing price of 4,540 yen on Thursday.
    It also identified Blackstone as the suitor it rejected in
September, when it disclosed a bid from a "top global fund".
Blackstone resubmitted its bid this week but was rejected again,
Unizo said.
    Previously a relatively obscure hotelier, Unizo is now being
seen as a prominent battleground amid Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe's push for greater transparency and reform.
    The company has frustrated investors by giving the
impression that it has wooed, and then jilted, a white-knight
suitor, SoftBank  9984.T  -backed Fortress Investment Group. 
    The Fortress bid followed an earlier, hostile one from
travel agency H.I.S. Co.
    Unizo originally welcomed the "white knight" bid from
Fortress, but later back-tracked. On Wednesday, Unizo's top
shareholder, Elliot Management, ended weeks of public silence to
ask Unizo's board to address its concerns about disclosure.
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 (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by David Dolan and Deepa
Babington)
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