Kobayashi Pharmaceutical has confirmed it received a non-binding, joint proposal from affiliates of NSSK and CVC Capital Partners to take the company private, settling a day of speculation set off by media reports naming the two buyout firms as suitors.
In a notice dated September 25, 2026, the Osaka-based maker of over-the-counter medicines and household health products said the proposal is legally non-binding and still at an initial stage, and that it was presented as one option for lifting corporate value. The company said it has decided nothing so far, and that it will promptly disclose any fact it decides warrants disclosure.
The confirmation follows reports that surfaced the previous day, September 24, attributing the take-private push to NSSK and CVC. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical noted that those reports did not come from the company itself, a standard disclaimer that nonetheless leaves the underlying claim, that affiliates of the two firms approached it, verified in the company's own words.
What the notice does not supply is any of the detail a shareholder would need to size the story: no price, no financing structure, no stake size, and no timeline for a decision. It is also silent on whether other bidders have approached the company or whether the board has taken a position beyond acknowledging receipt.
What is now confirmed is narrower but real: affiliates of two private equity firms have jointly approached a Tokyo Prime-listed consumer-health name about delisting it, and Kobayashi Pharmaceutical says it has made no decision on the proposal.