Watami Co., a major "izakaya" pub chain, said Monday it has offered to buy the entire nursing care operations of Goodwill Group Inc. as the acquisition race continues to heat up following the scandal-tainted group's decision to pull out of the nursing care business.
The offer in writing was sent to Goodwill and to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry earlier in the day, Watami said.
Watami said it plans to acquire the operations with a nonprofit organization working to promote the quality of private nursing care services.
Specifically, Watami plans to take over at-home nursing care services from Goodwill and offer them in cooperation with about 40,000 workers of the roughly 450 nursing care operators that form the nonprofit organization.
Watami, which already runs 27 nursing homes mainly in Tokyo and its vicinity, would also like to jointly take over Goodwill's nursing facilities with some of the 450 companies.
Around 30 companies have reportedly offered to acquire Goodwill's nursing care operations. Welfare services firm Nichii Gakkan has already said it is ready to take over all of the group's nursing care business.
Goodwill elected to sell off the nursing care services provided by Comsn Inc. and five other group units after it was revealed that Comsn had acquired licenses through fraudulent applications, including by showing an inflated number of employees.
The welfare ministry has said it will not renew the licenses of nearly 80 percent of Comsn's nursing care centers.
For related stories:
Goodwill to sell Comsn, five other nursing-care operations
More firms join suitors for Goodwill
Goodwill to pull out of nursing care sector