KDDI lowers stake in Jupiter
February 15, 2010
Japanese telecoms operator KDDI said it had lowered the voting stake it plans to acquire in the Jupiter cable TV network from US group Liberty Global after regulators questioned the $4 billion deal.
Last month, KDDI said it would buy Liberty's 37.8 per cent stake in J:Com. But legal experts raised doubts about the deal, saying KDDI may have needed to go through a public tender offer as these are required by Japanese law for acquisitions of more than a one-third stake in a company.
Under the new scheme, KDDI will buy a 31.1 per cent stake from Liberty Global, with the remaining part of the original 37.8 per cent being transferred to trust accounts, adding that the amount of money it pays to Liberty Global had not changed from Y361.7bn ($4bn).