By Kane Wu
HONG KONG (Reuters) – More than 10 entities, including buyout firms Blackstone and Carlyle, have lodged bids for skincare brand FANCL’s Asia business outside Japan valuing it at close to $1 billion, said people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Bain Capital, MBK Partners, Sequoia Capital and CITIC Capital are also among bidders for CMC Holdings, the sole distrubutor of FANCL Corp’s products in Asia outside Japan, the people said, declining to be named as the information is confidential.
Chinese online retailer JD.COM submitted an initial bid as well, they added.
Hong Kong-based Chris Chan, who owns CMC Holdings, appointed Morgan Stanley to sell his business in August. CMC operates over 200 stores in Greater China and Southeast Asia.
Chan, CMC, Bain, Carlyle and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Blackstone, MBK, Sequoia, CITIC Capital and JD.Com did not immediately respond to queries for comment.
(Reporting by Kane Wu, additional reporting by Julie Zhu; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
