Japanese hotel group Unizo gets six new buyout offers
24/11/2019 15:11
TOKYO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Japanese hotel operator Unizo
Holdings 3258.T said on Sunday it had received six more buyout
offers at a price competitive with an existing $1.6 billion bid
proposed by Blackstone Group BX.N .
Unizo said it had received offers from four overseas
investment funds and one Japanese fund as well as one domestic
company, without naming the bidders.
Unizo said none of the offers would meet its demands.
The multiple offers may further complicate the takeover saga
surrounding the hotel operator, which is already in talks with
two top global investment groups - Blackstone and Fortress
Investment Group.
Unizo in July became a target for a hostile bid by a
Japanese travel agent H.I.S. Co 9603.T . Unizo at one stage
turned to SoftBank Group-owned 9984.T Fortress to fend off the
bid. But later it withdrew its support for Fortress'
white-knight offer.
Last month, Blackstone offered to buy the company at 5,000
yen per share, valuing Unizo at $1.6 billion.
Unizo said on Sunday it was positively engaged in talks with
Blackstone. Blackstone on Friday extended the deadline for Unizo
to respond to its offer. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2822O2.
Fortress is currently running a public tender offer to buy
Unizo at 4,100 yen per share, valuing the company at $1.3
billion. Unizo said on Sunday it was asking Fortress to raise
its bid price to 5,000 yen per share.
Unizo said it wanted any bidder to make an offer at 5,000
yen per share or more. Some of the new bidders are still
considering the offer price, Unizo said.
(Reporting by Junko Fujita. Editing by Jane Merriman)
((junko.fujita@thomsonreuters.com))