Culture Convenience Club Co., which operates the Tsutaya movie and music rental shop chain, has said it will buy back its shares to restructure business operations.
The company, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, launched a tender offer Friday through March 22 in a bid to own all CCC shares and thereby become a privately held firm.
A special purpose company, MM Holdings, will offer to buy each CCC share for ¥600 and plans to spend ¥69.6 billion to acquire 118.15 million shares.
The move is aimed at securing latitude in long-term management as CCC plans to expand its business to China in the near future while eyeing investment in e-book and other digital businesses amid signs of decline in its mainstay domestic rental business.
President Muneaki Masuda told a news conference in Tokyo that he will take his company private "to shift to an environment in which it can carry out long-term measures," adding that when listed, management tends to look toward shareholders in running business operations.
CCC was set up in 1985 as the franchise headquarters of the Tsutaya chain. In fiscal 2009 that ended last March, it posted a group net profit of ¥9.42 billion on sales of ¥189.30 billion.