The Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan has chosen four competing business groups as part of the second tender for sponsorship of Kanebo Ltd.'s rehabilitation, according to sources.
With U.S. health-care giant Johnson & Johnson failing to make the cut, all major foreign candidates have now been eliminated, the sources said Thursday.
One of the four groups to make the cut is consortium comprising Kao and three Japanese investment funds -- MKS Partners Ltd., Unison Capital Inc. and Advantage Partners LLP.
The three other successful bidders are a team comprising JAFCO Co. and the Japanese unit of European investment fund CVC Capital Partners Ltd.; a team comprising Daiwa Securities SMBC Principal Investments Co. and RHJ International SA, a U.S. fund formerly called Ripplewood Holdings LLC; and a team comprising Nikko Principal Investments Japan Ltd. and Kose Corp.