Bermuda-based Orbis Investment Management Ltd., a major shareholder in Nikko Cordial Corp., said Friday it will not accept Citigroup Inc.'s tender offer to purchase the Japanese brokerage's shares at 1,700 yen each.
Orbis, which has a 6.9 percent stake in Nikko, wants to sell all of its holdings at 1,900 yen per share, a move analysts say is designed to press Citigroup to raise the purchase price toward the end of the tender offer, which closes Monday.
Orbis pointed out in a statement that orders had been placed to sell 29 percent of outstanding Nikko shares for 1,900 yen per share by the time the market closed Thursday.
The tender offer by Citigroup was launched March 15 to cement capital and business ties with the Japanese brokerage, which has been trying to recover from an accounting fraud, although the firm managed to avoid being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.