Private equity eyes Vodafone Japan unit - paper

London, Mar 11: Private equity firms are preparing to challenge SoftBank Corp's 8.3 billion to 9.7 billion pound (.4-.9 billion) bid for Vodafone's Japanese mobile phone unit, the Financial Times said on Saturday.

The buyout firms include Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Cerberus, the newspaper said, without naming its sources.

''A lot of (private equity firms) are looking to make a counterbid, including us,'' the newspaper quoted an unidentified representative of a big U.S. private equity group as saying.

The Financial Times quoted a Vodafone spokesman as saying the group was ''very confident about going forward with SoftBank.'' Vodafone, KKR and Cerberus could not immediately be reached for comment.

REUTERS