EQT Raises Offer for Japan's Kakaku.com in $4.2 Billion Deal

By Megan Cheah

A consortium led by EQT and Digital Garage has sweetened its takeover offer for Kakaku.com in a deal valuing it at $4.20 billion, pressing ahead with a bidding war against a competing proposal from LY Corp. and Bain Capital.

The tender offer price for shares of the Japanese company was raised to 3,450 yen a share from 3,000 yen, Swedish investment firm EQT said Friday.

That values the company at about 682.55 billion yen, equivalent to $4.20 billion, based on about 197.8 million shares outstanding according to LSEG data.

EQT said the consortium's original tender price reflected Kakaku.com's intrinsic value and "included a reasonable premium" over the company's unaffected market share price before the offer was reported.

"Following developments in the process and further careful consideration, the consortium decided to increase the tender offer price in order to further enhance execution certainty and reflect its continued conviction in the company's long-term potential," the investment company said.

EQT and Japanese internet company Digital Garage, a major shareholder of Kakaku.com, made the initial offer in May. LY Corp. and Bain Capital submitted a competing proposal that same month to acquire Kakaku.com at 3,232 yen a share, a price they increased to 3,384 yen in July.

The latest offer from LY Corp.--the company behind platforms such as messaging application LINE and web portal Yahoo! Japan--and Bain Capital valued Kakaku.com at around $4.12 billion.

LY and Bain Capital said in July their offer would increase to 3,500 yen a share if a nontender agreement could be executed with KDDI, another of Kakaku's largest shareholders. They added that they wouldn't commence the offer unless Kakaku.com expressed support for it.

Kakaku.com didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The company operates a group of online platforms, including a price-comparison site, a restaurant-review site and a job-search site.

Write to Megan Cheah at megan.cheah@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2026 04:14 ET (08:14 GMT)