OSAKA (Kyodo) Hankyu Holdings Inc. will launch a public tender offer Tuesday for Hanshin Electric Railway Co. stock even though it did not reach an agreement on the share price with Hanshin's largest shareholder, the Murakami fund.
The holding company of the Hankyu Corp. railway, which operates in the Kansai region, said Monday it is offering 930 yen per share of Hanshin, its rival railway in the area, for 21 days until June 19. Hankyu's board approved the tender offer at an extraordinary meeting Monday.
Hankyu said, however, that unless it can get a stake in Hanshin of more than 45 percent, the equivalent of 189.74 million shares, it will not buy any stock. At the offered price, a 45 percent stake would cost 176.4 billion yen.