TOKYO Reuters A consortium led by global private equity firm Bain Capital will buy all the shares of Hitachi Metals Ltd for 817 billion yen 7.5 billion, Hitachi Ltds metals subsidiary said on Wednesday.

For Hitachi, which currently owns 53 of Hitachi Metals, the deal is the latest divestiture in a decadelong business overhaul to pivot the business from electronics hardware to digital services.

The Bainled consortium, which includes two Japanese funds, will offer 2,181 yen per share to buy the 47 of Hitachi Metals not owned by Hitachi at a premium of 15.8 to Tuesdays closing price. It will spend a further 382 billion yen acquiring Hitachis 53 stake.

Hitachi Metals will be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Hitachi is expecting to book extraordinary profit of 328 billion yen in the current financial year, it said in a separate statement.

Hitachi has sought buyers since last year for the business which has posted net losses for two consecutive years in a deteriorating business environment.

In recent years it has also sold chemical unit Hitachi Chemical Co to Showa Denko and diagnostic imaging business to Fujifilm Holdings Corp.

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Reporting by Takashi Umekawa, editing by Louise Heavens and Elaine Hardcastle

Source Reuters