Bain Capital has a possible roadblock in its $1.3 billion takeover offer for Japanese ad agency Asatsu-DK, as global ad giant WPP does not plan to tender its 24.7% stake, according to the FT.
Why it matters: This would be the first-ever buyout of a major ad company in Japan. It also would be the second time this year that Bain has run into problems in Japan with a target's non-Japanese partner (the first being Western Digital on the Toshiba memory chips deal). All fairly remarkable, given that U.S. private equity firms had written off Japan not too long ago.