Bain and LY Are Said to Mull Higher Bid for Kakaku, Rivaling EQT

The Kakaku.com Inc. website on a smartphone.

Bain Capital and LY Corp. are considering making a fresh joint offer for Japanese online marketplace Kakaku.com Inc., people familiar with the matter said, marking an escalation in the bidding war with private equity firm EQT AB.

The new takeover bid from the US investment firm and the SoftBank Corp. affiliate would likely be higher than the ¥3,450 ($21.06) per share offered by EQT last week, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. A potential offer could be made as soon as the coming days, two of the people said.

Kakaku.com shares have gained almost 60% this year, giving it a market value of roughly $4.5 billion.

Considerations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, the people said.

Representatives for Bain and Kakaku.com declined to comment, while LY didn’t respond to a request seeking comment.

Stockholm-based EQT has extended the period of its tender offer to Aug. 3, while it’s holding talks with Kakaku’s Hong Kong-based shareholder Oasis Management. Kakaku.com supports the EQT tender offer and company representatives have said that position remains unchanged.

A new bid from Bain and LY would follow previous ones made in recent months. Based in Tokyo and established in 1997, Kakaku provides a vast range of web services, including price comparison for online shopping, restaurant bookings and job searches.