Swedish private equity firm EQT has announced plans to acquire Kakaku.com, the company behind the popular Tabelog restaurant review and booking platform, in a deal expected to be valued around ¥590 billion ($3.74 billion).

EQT said it has launched a bid to take the company private with an offer of ¥3,000 per share. Following the news, shares in Kakaku.com — which also operates Japan’s largest product and price comparison website of the same name — rose to ¥3,300 at the market’s opening on Wednesday.

Many restaurants in Japan use Tabelog in place of their own website, using it to manage bookings and show photos, menu details and payment methods. The site is available in Japanese, English and Korean, as well as simplified and traditional Chinese.

In addition to Tabelog, and its namesake website, Kakaku.com operates job search platform Kyujin Box. The parent company was founded in 1997.

Tetsuro Onitsuka, an Asia partner at EQT, said Kakaku.com had built “trusted services that are deeply embedded in everyday life in Japan.” The move, he added, illustrated the Swedish company’s “long-term commitment” to the Asian powerhouse.

EQT has deepened its investments in Japan. Last July, it made a $2.7 billion offer to take elevator and escalator manufacturer Fujitec private. This was followed by a $320 million offer to take digital healthcare platform CareNet private. In January, it made a $371 million offer in pursuit of IT services company Mamezo.

Conni Jonsson, EQT’s founder, said in an interview last year that Japan had “a really good chance at becoming the biggest and most important investment market for us in Asia.”

Fueled by well-received corporate governance reforms, Japanese companies are increasingly of interest to foreign investors, with 2025 being a record year for deals amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has spoken glowingly of Japan’s potential and, through his Berkshire Hathaway holding company, bought significant stakes in Japanese trading companies including Sumitomo, Itochu and Mitsubishi.

American firm Elliott Investment Management has also bought stakes in several Japanese companies, including air-conditioning manufacturer Daikin and shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines.

In March, Elliott reached a deal to take Toyota Industries private, in what is expected to become the largest-ever acquisition of a Japanese company.

But not all foreign bids have panned out.

Canadian firm Alimentation Couche-Tard’s Seven & I Holdings takeover effort failed spectacularly, with it ultimately withdrawing its offer in 2025.