The ailing supermarket chain Daiei Inc. is in the final stage of talks with Marubeni Corp. over the latter's purchase of a 5 percent stake in Daiei and an additional 10 percent stake in its affiliate supermarket chain Maruetsu Inc., a Daiei official said Thursday.
The official said the value of the acquisition is estimated at 12 billion yen. Daiei hopes the deal will help beef up business relations with Marubeni and boost credit confidence in Daiei, the official said.
Marubeni also admitted having talks with Daiei over the deal.
"We put the retail business as one of our core business fields. As part of efforts to strengthen this business, we are in negotiations on raising our stake in Maruetsu and taking a stake in Daiei," the major trading house said in a brief statement.
Marubeni said it will make an announcement as soon as negotiations are completed. It now holds a 10 percent stake in Maruetsu and an additional 10 percent will make it the biggest shareholder in Maruetsu, which is also owned 14.5 percent by Daiei.
Marubeni raised its stake in Maruetsu to 9.96 percent from 1.52 percent in November.
Marubeni and Daiei have been under a business collaboration tieup since February 1994. Marubeni also has a 5 percent stake in the Daiei group's convenience store chain Lawson Inc.