Toyota says deal to take key supplier private delayed at least until February

TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor said on Monday that its tender offer for forklift maker Toyota Industries was now likely to begin in February or later, pushing back a launch that had been expected in early December. The Toyota group said in June that Toyota Industries would be taken private through a holding company into which Toyota Motor, Toyota Fudosan and Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda would invest, and that the tender offer would start after receiving regulatory approval. The value of the tender offer for the shares of Toyota Industries is expected to be around 3.7 trillion yen ($24.65 billion) based on an acquisition price of 16,300 yen a share. The deal marks a landmark unwinding of cross-shareholdings that is expected to boost the influence of the founding Toyoda family. Japanese businesses have come under growing pressure in recent years to reduce such shareholdings amid a government push for improved corporate governance. As part of the deal, Toyota Motor and group companies Denso, Toyota Tsusho and Aisin will all sell their shares in Toyota Industries and acquire their own shares now held by it, with the purchase of Toyota Motor's holdings expected to come to one trillion yen. ($1 = 150.1100 yen) (Reporting by Daniel LeussinkEditing by Chang-Ran Kim and Kate Mayberry)

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