Fortress extends tender offer period for Japan's Unizo until November 1

TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group's Fortress Group said on Thursday it would extend its tender-offer period for Japanese hotel operator Unizo Holdings, which is also an acquisition target of Blackstone Group but at a higher price, until Nov. 1.

U.S.-based Fortress's 4,000 yen-per-share offer was originally set to end on Thursday.

Fortress had emerged in August as a white knight for Unizo with a 137 billion yen bid when the hotelier was the target of H.I.S.. But Unizo later withdrew its support.

On Tuesday, Blackstone Group ratcheted up its pursuit of Unizo by launching a 5,000 yen-per-share tender offer.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita and Chris Gallagher; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)