Bain Capital to cut stake in Japanese restaurant chain Skylark to less than half

Bain Capital and another buyout firm plan to sell a total of 45.839 million shares in the company, Skylark said on Thursday, adding that pricing will be determined on June 1-3.

The total number of shares to be sold could be increased to 59 million or reduced to 41.5 million depending on demand, Skylark said.

Bain’s stake will be cut to less than half in any case, said a spokesman at Skylark.

Up to 4.97 million shares could be further added to the sale, raising the size of the offering to as much as 114.9 billion yen ($950 million).

Bain bought Skylark in 2011 from a fund run by Nomura Holdings Inc in one of the largest buyout deals in Japan.

The U.S. buyout firm last year sold part of its Skylark stake in one of the largest initial public offerings in 2014.

In the IPO, the amount of shares that Bain offered was cut to a fifth from initial plans due to weaker-than-expected demand.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita for Reuters)