April 11 (Bloomberg) -- D&M Holdings Inc. climbed the most in almost three weeks in Tokyo trading after Reuters reported Bain Capital LLC and Advantage Partners LLP are among private- equity firms bidding for the maker of Denon audio equipment.

D&M jumped 18 percent to close at 353 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, valuing the company at 33 billion yen ($324 million). That's the largest gain since March 24, when the stock surged after Jiji Press said Harman International Industries Inc. offered to buy the Kanagawa, Japan-based electronics maker.

The private-equity arm of Merrill Lynch & Co. and a non- Japanese retailer of electronics goods are also bidding for D&M, Reuters reported April 10, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. The report isn't based on an announcement by the company, D&M said in a statement to the exchange today.

Yukihiro Wada, manager at Advantage Partners, and Takayuki Inoue, a spokesman at Merrill Lynch, declined to comment on the report. Bain couldn't be reached for comment.

RHJ International SA, 17 percent held by U.S. buyout firm Ripplewood Holdings LLC founder Timothy Collins, owns about 49 percent of D&M, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Amsterdam-based Royal Philips Electronics NV holds 12 percent.

RHJ is auctioning its stake, Reuters said. The winner of the auction is expected to make an offer for the whole company, with Philips also selling its holding, the report said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tomoko Yamazaki in Tokyo at tyamazaki@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 11, 2008 03:31 EDT