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Kao says it is in talks to buy UK's Molton Brown

Kao Corp, Japan's largest household goods maker, said it is in talks to buy the UK's Molton Brown Ltd, a maker of cosmetics and luxury consumer products.

"We will make a further announcement on the matter as early as possible if we make progress in the negotiations," Tokyo-based Kao said late yesterday in a statement released through the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Financial Times said yesterday that Kao is ready to buy privately held Molton Brown for ?170 million (US$295.5 million), citing documents Kao filed to the Bundes-kartellamt, Germany's federal cartel office. Kao did not give details of a possible purchase price in its statement to the Tokyo exchange.

Kao President Motoki Ozaki is trying to expand overseas as competition increases at home with domestic rivals Shiseido Ltd. and Lion Corp.

Acquisition of Molton Brown may be Kao's biggest company buy-out since 2002, when it bought John Frieda Professional Hair Care Inc of the US, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said today, without saying where it got the information.

Kao paid ?54 billion yen (US$481 million) for John Frieda.

London-based Molton Brown's products are sold at international department stores such as Selfridges in London and Barney's in New York. Goldman Sachs is advising Kao on the acquisition, the Financial Times said.

Kao called off a bid last year to buy the cosmetics business of Tokyo-based Kanebo Ltd, which had liabilities of ?682 billion, exceeding assets by ?62.9 billion.

Kanebo, then Japan's second-largest cosmetics, food and toiletries company, has since turned to the government for a financial bailout.

"We are still interested in Kanebo's cosmetics business," Ozaki said on April 22. "We are always looking for possible takeover targets and prepared to finance bids whenever necessary."

Kao is among more than 10 companies considering buying shares in Kanebo and its cosmetics unit, Kanebo Cosmetics Inc. after being approached by the Industrial Revitalization Corp of Japan, the nation's state-run bailout agency, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported yesterday, without saying where it got the information.

Kanebo is under rehabilitation led by the IRCJ, which has sent queries to about 100 investment funds and companies to see if they are interested in buying Kanebo shares, with the deadline for reply set as July 14, the newspaper said.

Kao shares fell ?20, or 0.7 percent, to close at 2,685 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 8.
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