Sumitomo Corp Prepares Tender Offer For J-Com

Sumitomo Corp. is preparing to launch a tender offer for a bigger equity stake in Jupiter Telecommunication Co., or JCOM, according to Nikkei. The trading house holds a 27.7% stake in JCOM as the second-largest shareholder behind the U.S. company Liberty Global Inc. KDDI announced last month that it intends to buy a large portion of Liberty's 37.8% interest in the cable company. KDDI's surprise bid for a major stake in JCOM upset Sumitomo's firm intention of beefing up its media business throough JCOM.