Bain Capital has secured exclusive bidding rights with Citibank (NYSE: C) to purchase its Japanese telemarketing firm Bellsystem24 Inc. In a deal that could bring Citibank more than $1 billion in new capital to cash-strapped mega bank.
Bain Capital, a U.S. private equity firm, will have exclusive negotiating rights until November 11th, according to several sources. The first round of bidding for Bellsystem 24 inc, which involved Permira Advisors and a consortium of CVC Capital and Blackstone Group, ended last Friday.
This asset sale is being conducted by Citigroup’s Japanese private equity firm, Nikko Principal Investments, which was renamed to Citigroup Capital Partners Japan as of October 30th. Citi had originally owned 71.73% of Bellsystem24 but went on to buy all outstanding shares from IT services firm CSK Corp after Nikko and its subsidiaries were purchased by Citi. At the time, the purchase valued Bellsystem24 at Y151 Billion ($1.66 Billion USD).
Citigroup has raised about $8.9 billion from sales of assets in Japan during the last few months, as the Citibank tries to bolster its capital base. Citibank has been under pressure to raise capital by selling off pieces of its business so that it can pay off the Federal loans that it had received from the U.S. Government during the financial crisis.
Goldman Sach’s Japanese arm, Goldman Sachs Japan Ltd. and Citigroup’s Japanese investment banking firm, Nikko Citigroup are handling the sale. Permira is being advised by Bain (UBS AG) and JP Morgan Securities Japan Co.
