Eiken Chemical, a Japan-listed maker of clinical diagnostics and equipment, is in a sale process, four sources familiar with the situation said.

The auction process, if successfully finished, would likely lead to a take-private bid for the JPY 87.9bn (USD 570m) market cap company, two of the sources said.

Nomura Securities has been advising the sell-side and managing the auction process, according to the four sources.

Activist shareholder Dalton Investments held a 32.79% stake of the company at that time, according to a company’s filing on 21 November 2025. Dalton proposed Eiken Chemical go private multiple times, per Eiken’s press release dated 28 April 2025.

The process has already progressed to the second round, and binding bids are due soon. Bain Capital and at least one strategic investor are among the shortlisted bidders, two sources said.

Founded in 1939, the company went public in 1990 and has 1,051 employees. Eiken has a 68% share of the domestic market of the fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) for colorectal cancer screening, according to Eiken’s 2025 annual report. 

Eiken posted an operating profit of JPY 3bn (USD 19m) on annual revenues of JPY 40.5bn (USD 260m) in the fiscal year ended in March 2025, as per its financial statement. Overseas markets accounted for 26.4% of annual revenues.

Eiken, Dalton Investments and Nomura Securities declined to comment.

Bain Capital did not respond to requests for a comment by the time of the publication.