Japanese System Developer Dentsu Soken to Go Private

Tokyo, Aug. 28 (Jiji Press)--Japanese system developer Dentsu Soken Inc. said Friday that it plans to go private through a tender offer by a subsidiary of trading house Itochu Corp.

The tender offer will start in early November at the earliest, contingent on approval from competition authorities in Japan and overseas. If the offer ends in success, Dentsu Soken will operate as a joint venture between the Itochu group and advertising giant Dentsu Group Inc.

The acquisition price is 2,880 yen per share, or 215 billion yen in total. The Itochu subsidiary plans to acquire a stake of 38.2 pct, or all of the shares excluding the 61.8 pct stake held by Dentsu Group.

Dentsu Soken expressed its support for the tender offer and recommended that shareholders tender their shares.

Dentsu Group was considering delisting the system unit to improve the group's governance, as their parent-subsidiary listing is seen as problematic by foreign institutional investors.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]