TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor ( TM ) said on Monday that its tender offer for forklift maker Toyota Industries ( TYIDF ) was now likely to begin in February or later, pushing back a launch that had been expected in early December.

The Toyota ( TM ) group said in June that Toyota Industries ( TYIDF ) would be taken private through a holding company into which Toyota Motor ( TM ), Toyota Fudosan and Toyota ( TM ) chairman Akio Toyoda would invest, and that the tender offer would start after receiving regulatory approval.

The value of the tender offer for the shares of Toyota Industries ( TYIDF ) is expected to be around 3.7 trillion yen ($24.65 billion) based on an acquisition price of 16,300 yen a share.

The deal marks a landmark unwinding of cross-shareholdings that is expected to boost the influence of the founding Toyoda family. Japanese businesses have come under growing pressure in recent years to reduce such shareholdings amid a government push for improved corporate governance.

As part of the deal, Toyota Motor ( TM ) and group companies Denso, Toyota Tsusho and Aisin will all sell their shares in Toyota Industries ( TYIDF ) and acquire their own shares now held by it, with the purchase of Toyota Motor's ( TM ) holdings expected to come to one trillion yen.

($1 = 150.1100 yen)