Struggling retailer Daiei Inc. has decided to sell its Fukuoka businesses to U.S. investment firm Colony Capital LLC, sources said Thursday.
Daiei had been holding separate talks with Colony Capital and a consortium of Ripplewood Holdings LLC and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. over the retailer's plan to sell the Fukuoka Dome baseball stadium and the adjacent Sea Hawk Hotel.
Daiei and its main creditor banks, including UFJ Bank and other financial institutions, have agreed on the deal, the sources said.
Earlier this month, Colony Capital made a bid worth nearly 90 billion yen to take over the Fukuoka businesses, beating out the bid by the U.S. consortium.
The consortium had also submitted its bid to Daiwa Securities SMBC Co., which is acting as a financial adviser for the Daiei deal.
Daiei on Thursday also gave details of the bid and business plan submitted by Colony Capital to the state-backed Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan, the sources said.
After scrutinizing the business plan, the IRCJ will decide as early as next month whether to extend support to Daiei's Fukuoka businesses by buying some of their debts.
Colony Capital has also drawn up a plan to build new facilities in the area.
Daiei plans to keep the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks professional baseball club until the end of next year's baseball season, the sources said.
The IRCJ meanwhile is independently researching the volume of assets held by Daiei's Fukuoka businesses.