Blackstone has agreed to buy Japanese e-comics provider Infocom Corp, according to people familiar with the matter.
The world’s largest alternative asset manager has emerged as the buyer of a 55.1 per cent stake in Infocom held by Tokyo-listed Teijin, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. A deal may value Infocom at about US$1.66 billion, one of the people said.
Blackstone may seek to eventually acquire all of Infocom’s shares through a takeover bid and share transfer, the people said.
Blackstone has been picked as the buyer after outbidding rivals, the people said. Sony Music Entertainment, Japanese fund Integral and KKR & Co had also been interested in an acquisition, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month.
Representatives for Blackstone and Teijin declined to comment.
New York-listed Blackstone had US$1.1 trillion in assets under management as of the end of last year.
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Teijin, which is up about 24 per cent from a February low, has been seeking to trim its non-core operations. BLOOMBERG
