Citi Restarts BellSystem24 Sale; Bids Due By Sep 1 -Source
August 21 2009 - 1:47AM
Dow Jones News
Citigroup Inc.'s (C) Japanese private equity arm has restarted
efforts to sell the country's largest call center company by market
share, with the first round of bidding due to close Sep. 1, a
person familiar with the deal told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.
The move to sell Bellsystem24,valued by Citi at about $1.5
billion, comes as the U.S. bank sheds a raft of operations in Japan
that it considers to be non-core assets, part of efforts to bolster
its capital base in the wake of the global credit crunch.
Nikko Principal Investments, Citi's Japan private equity arm, is
hoping to offload the asset by November, the person said.
According to various media reports, private equity firms such as
U.S.-based Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, European fund Permira
Advisors Ltd and Japanese trading firm Itochu Corp. (8001.TO) are
interested in taking part in the bidding.
Earlier this year, Citi agreed to sell Nikko Asset Management to
Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. (8403.TO) and brokerage Nikko
Cordial Securities to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.
(8316.TO) in separate deals for Y112.4 billion and Y545 billion
respectively.
Citi initially sought buyers for Bellsystem24 late last year,
the Wall Street Journal reported at the time, but tight credit
conditions slowed the deal.
Nikko Principal initially owned 71.73% of Bellsystem24, and went
on to buy all outstanding shares from IT services firm CSK
Corporation and its subsidiaries after Nikko itself was acquired by
Citigroup in 2004. The purchase valued Bellsystem24 at around Y151
billion. Bellsystem24, which was delisted in 2005, posts annual
earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in
the range of $150 million to $200 million, said another person
familiar with the company.
Itochu, Permiraand Citigroup declined to comment on the
deal.
--By Tor Ching Li, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6895-7565;
chingli.tor@dowjones.com