Japan’s NTT plans to take NTT Data private for US$16.4 billion

[TOKYO] Japanese telecoms firm Nippon Telegraph and Telephone announced plans on Thursday (May 8) to take its subsidiary NTT Data private by purchasing the shares it does not already own for US$16.4 billion.

NTT said in a statement it would launch a tender offer for NTT Data at 4,000 yen (S$35.91) per share, representing a 34 per cent premium from Wednesday’s closing price.

NTT Data’s shares were untraded on Thursday due to a glut of buy orders, ending at the daily-limit high of 3,492 yen, following a Nikkei newspaper report about the plan.

NTT currently owns 57.7 per cent of NTT Data, an information technology services provider with a market capitalisation of US$29.5 billion at the close of trade on Wednesday.

NTT, a former state monopoly still part government-owned, took mobile carrier NTT Docomo private in a 4 trillion yen deal in 2020.

The telecoms company has partnered Toyota Motor to develop a mobility platform and is also developing next-generation light-based communications technology. NTT is also a major operator of data centres.

Management buyouts and corporate acquisitions have surged in Japan in recent years. With the NTT deal, a transaction would conclude a prominent parent-child listing – a structure that remains common in Japan.

Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda has proposed acquiring supplier Toyota Industries in a potential 6 trillion yen deal, media reported last month.

The founding family of Seven & i Holdings attempted a buyout of the 7-Eleven convenience store owner but failed to secure funding. Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard has offered US$47 billion for the retailer. REUTERS