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EQT Sweetens Its Kakaku.com Bid Again, Digital Garage Eyes a ¥122bn Payday
EQT just raised its Kakaku.com offer a third time, to ¥3,680 a share, as Bain Capital and LINE Yahoo refuse to fold, with Digital Garage watching a ¥122.4bn exit hang in the balance.
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Tokyo equities advanced while the 10Y JGB yield nudged lower.
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The Kakaku.com Chase
EQT Raises Kakaku.com Bid to ¥3,680 as Bain Capital Rivalry Drags On
Kamgras 1, the EQT-backed vehicle bidding to take Kakaku.com private, raised its tender offer price for the third time in a month, to ¥3,680 a share from ¥3,571, as it works to see off a rival proposal from Bain Capital and LINE Yahoo. The offer period, open since May 13, now runs to September 29, and settlement has slipped to October 6.
Why it matters: Digital Garage holds a 20.68% stake in Kakaku.com and stands to collect roughly ¥122.4bn once the deal closes, a payday that depends entirely on EQT seeing off the counter-bid rather than any move Digital Garage controls itself.
What to watch: Kamgras 1 has revised its terms repeatedly since the original May 13 filing, most recently in the correction lodged September 10, and each price increase raises the bar for Bain Capital and LINE Yahoo to counter if they want to stay in the contest.
The catch: Settlement is contingent on completion. Nothing here is final until the offer period closes September 29 and the deal actually settles October 6.
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Tokyo Policy Watch
Japan's Finance Minister Says G7 and Washington Backed Currency Intervention, No G20 Objections Raised
Japan's finance minister Katayama and Bank of Japan governor Ueda held a joint press conference after the G20 finance ministers meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, and the headline line concerned the yen. Katayama said Japan's recent currency intervention was carried out under an international agreement with the G7 and with US support, and that no participant at the meeting objected when he raised it. He declined, as usual, to discuss specific intervention levels.
The catch: The gathering produced a chair's statement rather than a joint communique, a format choice that reflects China's refusal to sign off on language covering critical minerals and supply chains — a fault line that outlasted the currency talk.
Japan's Finance Minister Rules Out Deficit Bonds to Fund Food Tax Cut
Japan's finance minister says a zero-based review of tax breaks, subsidies and supplementary spending, not new deficit bonds, will pay for the food consumption tax cut, though he has not yet said how much government debt the plan will require.
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Corporate Moves
AirTrip Raises Profit Guidance, Then Pledges a 16-Fold Dividend Jump
AirTrip's year-end dividend will jump to ¥160 a share for the year to September 2026, up sharply from ¥10 the year before, as the online travel agency marks its tenth listing anniversary with a three-year pledge to return more than ¥10bn to shareholders through the year to September 2028.
What changed: The company set a 100% payout ratio on adjusted operating profit for the three years to September 2028, a policy that also confirmed roughly ¥2.4bn in share buybacks the company had already carried out during the current fiscal year.
Why it matters: After a decade on the exchange, AirTrip is converting profit growth into an immediate, large cash return rather than banking it, though the dividend resets back to ¥10 once a planned investment phase begins in 2029.
The catch: The generous payout window is bounded to three years; shareholders should not assume ¥160 becomes the new baseline once AirTrip pivots back to reinvestment.
Aichi Financial Group and San ju San Financial Group Scrap Their Merger Plan
Aichi Financial Group and San ju San Financial Group have called off the merger they agreed to pursue four months ago. Boards at both companies resolved on September 10 to dissolve the basic agreement signed May 13, and each company withdrew in full the extraordinary report it had filed with the Kanto Local Finance Bureau describing the plan. The companies confirmed the split the same day in a joint disclosure to the Tokyo and Nagoya exchanges.
Why it matters: The two Tokai-region bank holding companies cited differing views on the direction of the integrated holding company as the reason the final agreement proved unworkable ahead of a September deadline. Both firms say the collapse leaves their earnings unaffected.
Sekisui Chemical Buys Control of a Brisbane Homebuilder for About A$335mn
Sekisui Chemical's board resolved on September 10 to buy 51% of Ausbuild Group, a land-development and homebuilding business in Brisbane, Queensland, for about A$335mn, a figure that already bundles in advisory fees and carries a purchase-price adjustment clause. Sekisui says it plans a further purchase down the line that would take its stake to 90%.
Why it matters: The plan is to bring the factory-built construction method behind Sekisui's Heim brand, which has supplied more than 680,000 homes in Japan, into Ausbuild's townhouse business within roughly three years, adding solar power, batteries and flood-resilient site design to address Queensland's rising electricity prices and flood exposure. Sekisui says the effect on its consolidated results is still being worked out.
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Governance and Legal Fallout
Nidec Shareholder Seeks ¥28.73bn From Two Former Directors Over Buybacks and Dividend
A single Nidec shareholder has filed a derivative suit at the Kyoto District Court against two former Nidec directors, seeking ¥28.73bn in restitution. The suit alleges that share buybacks in September 2022 and February-March 2023, plus a December 2022 interim dividend, exceeded the company's legal distribution limit. Nidec disclosed on September 10 that it had received the litigation notice the previous day.
Why it matters: Nidec says the claim targets the two former directors personally and will not affect its own earnings, but the figure ties back to a March internal review that set up a committee to investigate officer responsibility.
Tokyo Court Dismisses NTK's ¥203bn Damages Claim Against Daiichi Sankyo
The Tokyo District Court has thrown out every claim Northern TK Venture brought against Daiichi Sankyo, closing out a three-year lawsuit tied to a blocked tender offer for India's Fortis Healthcare. The damages demand had grown from an original ¥20bn to ¥203.3bn after NTK amended its claim in May 2025.
What to watch: Daiichi Sankyo says it will keep defending its position if NTK appeals, so the ruling may not be the final word.
Sakura Internet's Closing Breach Report Puts Up to 1.36 Million Accounts in Scope
Sakura Internet has closed its investigation into the unauthorized access first disclosed in August, and the final numbers are larger and older than the company's initial account suggested. Up to 1,360,563 accounts in its sales management system are now in scope, including unhashed initial passwords, and a separate customer database was reachable from April 2023 to March 2026 — nearly three years before it was found.
The catch: Sakura Internet says it has found no clear evidence tying the two intrusions together and no confirmed misuse of the exposed data to date, though it does not hold credit card information, which limits the worst-case exposure.
quick hits
Quick Hits
Sato Foods' Quarterly Profit Falls 90%, and It Finally Names a Full-Year Number
Read moreSato Foods' quarterly profit fell 90.5% as cheaper loose rice made its packaged rice look pricey and a year-ago one-off gain flattered the comparison, but the company has finally issued a full-year forecast pointing to a 26.4% profit decline after previously saying rice-price volatility made guidance too unreliable to publish.
Rokko Butter Cuts Full-Year Profit Forecast 35% as Costs Outrun Price Rises
Read moreJapan's Q·B·B cheese maker has cut its full-year operating profit forecast to ¥1.5bn, a 35% reduction, after packaging costs rose more than a tenth amid deteriorating Middle East conditions and the yen traded weaker than budgeted; a July earthquake that shut a subsidiary's factory added to the squeeze.
Visional Guides Flat Profit for Next Year Even as HRMOS Growth Accelerates
Read moreVisional's revenue grew 24% in the year to July 2026, but a wage-tax credit expiry and a new defense corporate tax mean next year's profit guidance is essentially flat, even as HRMOS's client count nearly quintupled and the Thinkings acquisition pushed group goodwill from ¥3.7bn to ¥12bn.
Timee Grows Revenue 25% as Margins Thin, and Starts Paperwork for a Prime Market Move
Read moreTimee's quarterly revenue rose 24.8% and worker utilization hit 86.3%, but operating profit grew only 5.8% as margins narrowed, and the board has only begun preparing a Prime Market application with no filing date yet.
MBK Partners Lines Up ¥1,550-a-Share Bid to Take SHARINGTECHNOLOGY Private
Read moreSHARINGTECHNOLOGY's board is telling shareholders to tender into MBK Partners' ¥1,550-a-share offer, which needs 63.58% acceptance to proceed but carries no cap on how many shares the buyout vehicle will ultimately buy.
Oasis Raises SMS Stake to 25.93%, Reserves Right to Push Board and Business Changes
Read moreOasis Management has pushed its holding in SMS CO.,LTD to 25.93%, funding the ¥41.3bn buildup entirely from fund capital and including a single off-market block trade of 1,607,500 shares at ¥2,460 apiece. The fund is in dialogue with SMS on portfolio strategy, AI use and pricing, and has already put proposals to SMS, with more planned over the next year, touching board composition, business divestitures and delisting, though none of those specific actions has been announced.
3D Investment Partners Lifts J.Front Retailing Stake to 11.63%, Reserves Right to Push for Board and Asset Changes
Read more3D Investment Partners' stake in J.Front Retailing rose to 11.63% from 10.32% on a ¥75.9bn, all-cash buying spree, and the fund says it may formally propose board changes, asset sales or a dividend policy overhaul if it judges such steps would raise J.Front's medium- to long-term value.
FDA Blocks Seikagaku's US Bid for Back-Pain Drug Over Factory Deficiencies, Not the Data
Read moreSeikagaku's Complete Response Letter from the FDA flags unresolved deficiencies at its active-ingredient plant and new problems at a contract formulator for SI-6603, with no concerns raised about the drug's efficacy or safety data and no resubmission date given.
Cybertrust Japan Halts Certificate Issuance After Missing Apple's New CA Approval Rule
Read moreCybertrust Japan will pause SSL/TLS certificate issuance from September 15 after its root CA partner failed to secure Apple's newly required sign-off for an outside-run intermediate CA, forcing revocations while Apple and Google approval remains outstanding.
AEON Keeps 14 Sites Out of Its Sales Count After the Kumamoto Mall Blast
Read moreTwelve AEON Kyushu stores and two AEON Mall shopping centers remained suspended through August after the July 28 Kumamoto Mall explosion, forcing AEON to strip them from its same-store sales and retroactively revise July's numbers while an outside panel investigates the cause.
FIXER Cancels EVO FUND Warrants, Drops ¥1.63bn Financing Plan
Read moreFIXER is canceling every remaining EVO FUND warrant, wiping out 2.76 million shares of potential dilution and walking away from ¥1.63bn of financing it says it no longer needs now that its Sovereign GaiXer product is finished and moving to a sales phase.
Quantum Solutions Pays $8.3mn Down on $61mn GPU Deal, Then Walks Back Supplier's 'In Stock' Claim
Read moreQuantum Solutions has handed over US$8.3mn, 13.6% of a US$61mn GPU-server contract, funded by a dilutive share allotment and crypto-asset sales, and now says its unnamed Kanto-based supplier's earlier 'in stock' claim referred to procurement capacity rather than all the servers already sitting in inventory.
Akippa Prices IPO at ¥570, the Top of Its Range, Ahead of a September 18 Debut
Read moreAkippa fixed its IPO at ¥570, the top of the ¥540-570 range, after bookbuilding demand outstripped supply and bunched at the ceiling, while SOMPO Holdings, DeNA and venture backers sell far more stock than the company raises for itself.
Subaru's Buyback Clears the One-Third Mark After a ¥23.75bn August
Read moreSubaru bought back ¥23.75bn of its own shares in August alone, bringing cumulative repurchases under its ¥150bn authorization to 33.86% of the value cap with the program's March 2027 deadline still seven months away.
Digital Grid's battery bet forces a lower profit bar even as contracts keep growing
Read moreDigital Grid's contracted power capacity jumped 38% and revenue hit a record, but the company guided next year's operating profit down 5% and its net profit down nearly 18%, as a debt-funded pivot into owning grid-scale batteries cut its equity ratio to 34.1% and pushed operating cash flow negative.