The FINANCIAL — Citigroup Inc said on November 15 it has agreed to sell its stake in Japanese telemarketer Bellsystem24, to private equity firm Bain Capital Partners for Y93.5bn ($1bn).
Under terms of the deal, Citi's private investment unit, Citigroup Capital Partners Japan, will receive $1 billion in cash for its 93.5 percent stake in the call center operator, AP reported. New York-based Citigroup in October completed the sale of its Japanese brokerage to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. in a $8.7 billion deal that advanced the bank's efforts to restructure after big losses on risky investments.
Bain has been widely expected to buy Bellsystem24 after securing exclusive negotiation rights earlier this month, according to Reuters. Sources had told Reuters last week that Bain was close to finalising a roughly 100 billion yen deal for the company, marking the largest buyout by a foreign private equity firm in Japan in nearly two years.
The same source reported that Bain has beaten off rivals Permira [PERM.UL] and a team of CVC Capital and Blackstone (BX.N), which had also made offers in the final round of bidding for Bellsystem24.
Citigroup has already sold broker Nikko Cordial, a fund management firm and a trust bank in Japan. Including the Bellsystem24 deal, it will have raised a total of about Y964bn ($10.8bn) from sales of Japanese assets, according to company statements, FT wrote.
The tender offer will formally be placed this week and be completed on December 30, Bain and Citigroup said. Bain's financing for the deal is supported by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Corporate Bank, according to the same source. The deal for Bellsystem24 will rank as Japan's largest buy-out by a foreign private equity firm since March 2008, when Permira bought Arysta LifeScience Corporation, an agrichemical company, for more than $2bn. Bellsystem24 is Japan's largest telemarketing company.
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