Blackstone agrees to buy Japanese manga firm for US$1.7 Billion

Blackstone has agreed to buy Japanese e-comics provider Infocom Corp, according to people familiar with the matter.

The world’s largest alternative asset manager has emerged as the buyer of a 55.1 per cent stake in Infocom held by Tokyo-listed Teijin, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. A deal may value Infocom at about US$1.66 billion, one of the people said.

Blackstone may seek to eventually acquire all of Infocom’s shares through a takeover bid and share transfer, the people said.

Blackstone has been picked as the buyer after outbidding rivals, the people said. Sony Music Entertainment, Japanese fund Integral and KKR & Co had also been interested in an acquisition, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month.

Representatives for Blackstone and Teijin declined to comment.

New York-listed Blackstone had US$1.1 trillion in assets under management as of the end of last year.

Teijin, which is up about 24 per cent from a February low, has been seeking to trim its non-core operations. BLOOMBERG