Japanese cableco Jupiter Telecommunications (J:Com) has today become a subsidiary of local telco KDDI Corporation following closing of the tender offer last week.
The offer was launched at the end of February by KDDI and trading house Sumitomo…
Japanese cableco Jupiter Telecommunications (J:Com) has today become a subsidiary of local telco KDDI Corporation following closing of the tender offer last week.
The offer was launched at the end of February by KDDI and trading house Sumitomo Corporation to buy all the remaining shares in J:Com. Before the transaction, KDDI controlled around 30% of the cableco while Sumitomo had 40%.
KDDI and Sumitomo paid Y147.5bn (US$1.5bn) for 1.2 million shares tendered during the process. The initial offer price was Y110,000 (US$1,123) per share but this was raised to Y123,000 at the end of February.
KKDI now owns approximately 40% of Jupiter while NJ Corporation, a 50:50 vehicle shared between KDDI and Sumitomo, acquired 8% of the company.
The companies had said earlier that they are planning to delist J:Com from JASDAQ.
KDDI already owns a stake in TV cable provider Japan Cablenet and it has been suggested that the telco may look to combine the two cablecos.
The tender offer was initially planned for early February, but it was pushed back because of a delay in antitrust approval in China. A Sumitomo executive previously said the buy could be a springboard to expand into overseas markets, particularly in Asia.
Goldman Sachs and Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu advised Sumitomo during the tender process, while JP Morgan was advising KDDI. Nishimura & Asahi was acting as KDDI’s legal adviser.
