Trafalgar’s Japanese bid neared a deadline.

The Japanese business community is anxiously watching the final moves in a battle by Trafalgar Holdings of Los Angeles and Glen International of London to buy out Minebea, one of the world’s largest makers of miniature bearings. The Anglo-American bid would be the first hostile takeover in Japan and could pave the way for more foreign takeovers of Japanese companies. The bidders set today as a deadline for negotiations with Minebea, “after which we will begin work on a takeover,” a Trafalgar executive said.