Japan's OK Corp to launch counter bid for Kansai Super Market, Nikkei reports

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese supermarket operator OK Corp will launch a counter bid for Kansai Super Market Ltd., which has already agreed to integrate with H2O Retailing, the Nikkei reported on Thursday.

OK Corp will attempt to win support from shareholders to oppose the integration at a shareholders meeting scheduled for Oct. 29, when a share exchange between Kansai Super Market and H2O Retailing will be subject to approval, the report said.

OK Corp now owns 7% of Kansai Super Market's shares.

Aiming to expand from Japan's eastern region to the west where Kansai Super Market is based, OK Corp had proposed a takeover to Kansai Super Market in June, the Nikkei said.

But Kansai Super Market said on Tuesday it had agreed to a capital and business alliance with H2O Retailing Corp.

A spokesperson for H2O Retailing told Reuters the company was in the process of confirming details reported in the Nikkei report. He said there was no change to the plan for H2O Retailing to integrate Kansai Super Market.

OK Corp and Kansai Super Market did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside normal office hours.

(Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Edmund Blair)

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