Japanese telecom operator KDDI Corp. said Tuesday it plans to acquire a 50 percent stake in convenience store operator Lawson Inc., taking it private with trading house Mitsubishi Corp., which owns the other 50 percent.

The telecom company plans to purchase the shares from general shareholders in a tender offer worth around 500 billion yen ($3.4 billion) to be launched around April.

The move comes as KDDI, which currently has a 2.1 percent stake in Lawson, seeks to strengthen its consumer-oriented business outside the telecommunications industry by using the purchasing data of convenience store customers and using it for its financial and other services.

"Convenience stores are extremely important as social infrastructure. We will fully utilize the power of telecommunications to build future stores," said KDDI President Makoto Takahashi at a joint press conference in Tokyo.

Lawson President Sadanobu Takemasu and Mitsubishi President Katsuya Nakanishi also welcomed the utilization of KDDI's technologies and strong customer base, citing their potential in developing future services.

==Kyodo

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