J:COM Agrees To Sumitomo Offer

Japan’s leading cable MSO J:COM announced March 2 it has agreed to a tender offer bid from Sumitomo Corp., valued at ¥122 bil./US$1.4 bil., effectively taking its stake to 40%, from 27%.

	Related Items
	J:COM Takeover Battle Intensifies
	Local Issues Cloud J:COM Deal
	Liberty Exits J:Com
	Growing Pains for J:COM

The news comes two weeks after Liberty Global Inc., announced the sale completion of its 38% stake in J:COM to KDDI Corp., Japan's largest telco after NTT, via its subsidiaries. KDDI paid ¥362 bil. in cash for the stake.

KDDI hopes its stake in J:COM will give it a platform to strengthen bundled multi-play services including digital pay-TV and broadband. It will also gain some attractive content assets that could be leveraged for distribution over fixed and wireless networks (see analysis in Media Route 26, Issue 107).

Sumitomo had initially expressed surprise at KDDI’s bid. KDDI meanwhile, indicated that Sumitomo's tender offer won't have an impact on its own agreement to take a stake in J:COM, with KDDI president Tadashi Onodera calling for the two to co-operate in J:COM’s future.

KDDI's bid was a sticking point, with tender offer provisions that stipulate a takeover bid is required when more than one-third of shares trade outside the market. But the operator said it is was not directly investing in more than one-third of J:COM shares, acquiring them via three separate holding companies through LGI, which have a capital tie-up with J:COM.