TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan life insurer Dai-Ichi Life Holdings said on Thursday it plans to launch a higher tender offer for healthcare platform Benefit One in a competing bid against M3 Inc.
The fight over Benefit One marks the latest in a growing number of takeover deals in Japan, spurred in part by a push by the Tokyo Stock Exchange for improved corporate governance and better allocation of capital that has made large companies reassess the logic of having multiple listed affiliates and subsidiaries.
Benefit One’s parent company Pasona Group had already agreed to tender all of its 51.16% stake in the subsidiary unit to digital healthcare provider M3, which launched its tender offer last month.
Dai-Ichi Life said it plans to offer 1,800 yen ($12.39) per Benefit One share against M3’s bid of 1,600 yen, first buying up the shares Pasona does not own and then buying the 51.16% of shares held by Pasona, so as to take the company private.
Dai-Ichi’s total acquisition price would be 286 billion yen ($1.98 billion) for the whole company versus 140 billion yen from M3 for up to 55% of Benefit One’s shares.
Pasona said it is evaluating the new offer and the stipulations of the contract it signed to sell its shares to M3.
($1 = 145.3000 yen)
(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura and Anton Bridge; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Tom Hogue)
