Japanese operator KDDI has agreed to acquire all of the shares of Biglobe from the Japan Industrial Partners No. 4 Investment Project, which is managed by Japan Industrial Partners and others. KDDI plans to acquire the shares for the total amount of around JPY 80 billion around the end of January 2017. Following completion of the acquisition, Biglobe will become a KDDI subsidiary.
Biglobe operates a fixed internet access service and ended September with more than 2 million subscribers. Biglobe mobile services are also used by approximately 400,000 customers. It was previously part of NEC until the company sold it to Japan Industrial Partners, a private equity fund, in 2014.
KDDI had around 38.58 million subscribers for au mobile phones at end-September, and around 9.04 million subscribers to fixed-line services such as the ‘au Hikari’ brand FTTH, CATV services and others.
According to the Japanese operator, KDDI and Biglobe will use their respective customer bases, business expertise, and so forth to expand business through synergies between the two companies, not only in the telecommunications domain, but also in non-telecommunications domains such as settlement services and product sales business.
