KKR raises tender offer price for Fuji Soft acquisition

TOKYO (Reuters) -Private equity firm KKR has raised its tender offer price for Fuji Soft by 7% to 9,451 yen ($60.86) a share, the Japanese software developer said on Friday, narrowly surpassing a rival offer of 9,450 yen from Bain Capital.

KKR has already acquired a 35% stake in Fuji Soft after the first part of its two-stage buyout, in which the U.S. firm offered 8,800 yen per share.

KKR originally planned to offer the same price in the second part, which is tentatively scheduled to start next week.

Fuji Soft said its board decided at a meeting on Friday to support KKR’s latest plan and oppose rival U.S. Bain Capital’s proposal.

Shares in Fuji Soft closed up 0.6% at 9,110 yen ahead of the announcement.

($1 = 155.2900 yen)

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko, Mariko Katsumura and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Jan Harvey, Kirsten Donovan)