Japan’s NTT plans to buy remaining NTT Data shares for up to $20 billion, Nikkei reports

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(Reuters) -Japanese telecoms giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone plans to launch a tender offer worth up to 3 trillion yen ($20 billion) to buy the remaining shares in NTT Data, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday.

NTT, Japan’s largest telecommunications firm, owns 57.7% of NTT Data, which provides information technology services and had a market capitalisation of $29.5 billion at Wednesday’s close of trade.

Under the tender offer, which could be announced as soon as Thursday, NTT would buy the remaining shares in NTT Data at a premium of 30% to 40%, Nikkei reported.

NTT in a statement said it plans to make a decision at a board meeting on Thursday. NTT Data also said it will hold a board meeting.

Shares in NTT Data were untraded with a glut of buy orders in early Tokyo trade on Thursday.

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

It 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 in Japan have surged in recent years. With the NTT deal, a transaction would bring an end to 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 $47 billion for the retailer.

($1 = 143.3800 yen)

(Reporting by Sam Nussey and Ritsuko Shimizu in Tokyo and Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonali Paul and Christopher Cushing)