Yahoo Finance Daiwa to Invest $330 Million in Aozora for Largest Stake
(Bloomberg) -- Daiwa Securities Group Inc. will take a stake in Aozora Bank Ltd., giving the bank access to fresh capital after its first loss in 15 years.
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Daiwa will buy about 51.4 billion yen ($330 million) in newly issued shares from Japan’s Aozora, giving it roughly 15.6% of voting rights, the companies said in a filing. This would make it the bank’s biggest shareholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The mid-sized bank shocked the market in February with losses on its portfolio of office property loans in the US. Aozora has also drawn market attention after a Japanese activist fund became one of its biggest shareholders. City Index Eleventh, a fund with ties to Japan’s most prominent activist investor Yoshiaki Murakami, has built an 8.9% stake in the bank.
Daiwa and Aozora plan to cooperate in four areas: wealth management, real estate, mergers and acquisitions and startups. The bank will also appoint a candidate nominated by Daiwa to the board as an outside director.
Gamble on US Commercial Property Blows Up for Japan’s Aozora (1)
Aozora president Hideto Oomi said the capital tie up was unrelated to City Index Eleventh’s investment in the bank.
The bank posted a loss of about 50 billion yen for the year ended March 31. That compares with a profit of 8.7 billion yen a year earlier.
(updates with size of loss)
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