Venture capital firm Unison Capital Inc. said Monday it has proposed taking over Kanebo Ltd.'s cosmetics operations, challenging Kao Corp.'s bid for the operations.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Sunday that Unison Capital proposed that it and Kanebo set up a new company -- owned 51 percent by Unison and 49 percent by Kanebo -- to take over the cosmetics business.
Unison Capital has offered to purchase the cosmetics operations of Kanebo for about 400 billion yen, it said.
Unison Capital's takeover bid rivals that by Kao, which is in talks with Kanebo to purchase Kanebo's cosmetics operations in what would be Japan's biggest nonfinancial corporate buyout.
Kao and Kanebo said Jan. 31 that they gave up their initial plans to integrate their cosmetics operations into a joint company and are now putting the final touches on details of the buyout deal.
The buyout would lift Kao's cosmetics-related sales on a group basis to around 300 billion yen, making it the nation's No. 2 cosmetics manufacturer after Shiseido Co.
Kanebo would name the president of the venture from among its executives, according to the report.
Kanebo has been trying to wipe out its negative net worth, which totaled 62.9 billion yen at the end of September.