TOKYO, May 14 (Reuters) - SoftBank-backed LY Corp on Thursday said it and Bain Capital have lifted their bid for Kakaku.com, valuing the online marketplace at $4 billion and above a rival offer from Swedish investment firm EQT.
o LY, which owns messaging app LINE and Yahoo Japan, said they are now offering 3,232 yen per share in an all-cash deal. That is up from 3,000 yen per share they offered a week ago. EQT has also offered 3,000 yen per share in a deal backed by Kakaku.com's board announced on Tuesday.
o "Amid the current period of transformation driven by the rise of generative AI, the businesses operated by Kakaku.com...are considered to have extremely high strategic value," LY said.
o Kakaku.com shares were trading around 3,400 yen, down 0.5%, indicating that some investors expect the bidding war to continue. LY shares were down 0.7%.
o Kakaku.com operates price comparison site Kakaku.com, restaurant review and reservation platform Tabelog and job search service Kyujin Box.
o Kakaku.com said on Tuesday when announcing that it was recommending EQT's offer, that Digital Garage and KDDI, which together hold 38.1% of the company, had agreed to sell their shares.
(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
