U.S.-based private equity firm KKR & Co. made an unsolicited, non-binding bid to acquire MYOB Group Ltd. for A$3.70 per share in cash after increasing its stake in the Australia-based accounting software company to 19.9%.

MYOB Group confirmed that it received the unsolicited bid from KKR, saying the offer price represents a premium of 24% to its closing share price of A$2.98 per share on Oct. 5.

Earlier, an affiliate of KKR bought 103,951,106 shares, or an approximately 17.6% stake in MYOB Group, from Bain Capital Abacus Holdings LP at A$3.15 per share. The transaction increased KKR's shareholding in MYOB Group to 19.9%. Following the transaction, Bain Capital holds 35,978,032 shares of the group, or an approximately 6.1% stake.

MYOB Group said its board has commenced an assessment of the bid and will keep the market informed in accordance with its continuous disclosure requirements. There is no certainty that the KKR proposal will result in a transaction, the group said.

MYOB Group has engaged UBS as financial adviser and Clayton Utz as legal adviser.

The private equity firm will likely fund the equity portion of its bid through a number of its private equity funds, including its US$9.3 billion Asian Fund III, The Australian Financial Review reported. KKR will also likely rely on banks to provide the debt.

KKR's latest bid for MYOB Group comes seven years after the private equity firm made a serious push to acquire the Australian company. KKR was one of the underbidders when Bain acquired MYOB Group in 2011.