Major retailer Aeon Co. said Tuesday it will make Diamond City Co. a subsidiary May 11 because it has acquired a controlling stake in the shopping center operator through a public tender offer.
Aeon said it obtained a 60.11 percent stake in Diamond City following a 27-day tender offer completed Monday. Aeon will pay for the 12.5 million Diamond City shares with cash worth some 68.80 billion yen, or 5,500 yen per share, it said.
Before the buyout bid, Aeon held a 27.39 percent stake in Diamond City and asked major trading house Mitsubishi Corp., which held a 27 percent stake, to respond to the tender offer.
Diamond City, a Tokyo-based firm running 14 shopping centers, saw its consolidated net profit nearly double to 4.75 billion yen in the year that ended in February from 2.34 billion yen the previous year.