Global private equity firm KKR has acquired a 35% stake in Japan-based software developer Fuji Soft after completing the first stage of its two-part buyout tender offer, Fuji Soft announced on Wednesday, according to a report by Reuters.
The report cites an unnamed source familiar with the matter as revealing that KKR’s newly acquired stake now gives it enough voting power to potentially block a competing offer from rival private investment firm Bain Capital, which in October proposed a higher bid to take Fuji Soft private.
Major investors 3D Investment Partners and Farallon Capital, who together hold a 32.7% stake in Fuji Soft, previously agreed to tender their shares to KKR at a price of JPY8,800 per share.
Bain Capital had indicated it would only proceed with its JPY9,450 yen per share offer if approved by Fuji Soft’s management, which it has not yet received.
KKR plans to initiate the second stage of its tender offer, also at JPY8,800 yen per share, in mid-November.
