July 30, 2010

Panasonic To Tender Offer For Sanyo & Panasonic Elec

Panasonic Corporation announced that Panasonic will acquire shares of Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. and Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd. through a tender offer. The maximum cost for Panasonic is expected to be 818 billion yen. Panasonic also announced that Panasonic will file a Shelf Registrations Statement in Japan for offerings of shares of common stock.

July 29, 2010

Panasonic To Turn Sanyo, Panasonic Elec Works To 100% Units

Panasonic Corp. plans to transform Sanyo Electric Co. and Panasonic Electric Works Co. into wholly owned subsidiaries as early as this year at an estimated combined cost of over 900 billion yen, according to Nikkei. By making both firms 1005 units, Panasonic aims to unify management and concentrate resources in such areas as rechargeable batteries and home-use goods.

July 28, 2010

Monex To Buy HK Online Broker

Monex Group, Inc., one of the major on-line broker firms in Japan, announced that it will acquire 100% shares of Boom Securities Limited, a HK-based online brokerage company. For Monex Group, Boom Securities will be the main bridgehead to penetrate the on-line securities business in Mainland China.

July 27, 2010

Kirin To Buy Stakes In Fraser & Neave From Temasek Unit

Kirin Holdings Company, Ltd., a Japanese No. 1 beverage conglomerate, announced that Kirin will acquire 205.5 million shares (14.7%) in Fraser and Neave Limited, the largest beverage company in Malaysia and Singapore, from Seletar Investments Pte Ltd. which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings Limited for about $0.97 billion. This investment will further enhance Kirin's international integrated beverage group strategy in the Asia and Oceania regions.

July 23, 2010

Top Firm's PE Ratio Hit 19-Month Low

The average projected price-earnings ratio of stocks listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange sank to its lowest level since late 2008 according to Nikkei. Falling stock prices and earning upgrades by some firms pushed down the average multiple to 16.33, which is still high compared to the 11.82 for the Dow Industrial Average.

July 22, 2010

Blackstone May Buy Japanese Real Estate Loans From Morgan Stanley

US investment giant Blackstone Group is close to finalizing a deal to purchase real estate loans with a face value of around 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) owned by Morgan Stanley's Japanese operations, according to Nikkei. The proposed deal involves non-recourse loans, backed by commercial real estate such as office buildings which are believed to comprise around 30 properties in the Tokyo area. Morgan Stanley started Japanese commercial lending around 2000, securitizing loans for sale to domestic and overseas investors. But the recent financial environment makes it impossible for Morgan to securitize the loans it owns. The world's biggest private-equity firm appears to be ramping up its investment in Japan on the belief that real estate prices are close to finding a bottom.

July 20, 2010

Sanyo To Sell Semiconductor Unit To US Firm

Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (Sanyo) announced that it will sell Sanyo Semiconductor Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Sanyo to ON Semiconductor Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed supplier of semiconductors and integrated circuits for $336 million. The sale is an effort to divest Sanyo of its non-core businesses under the initiative of parent, Panasonic Corp.

July 16, 2010

NTT To Buy South African IT Service Provider

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation(NTT), one of the largest global telecommunications service providers announced that it reached an agreement to buy Dimension Data Holdings Plc, a global specialist IT services and solution provider, for around 286 billion yen( $3.25 billion), launching a tender offer on the London Stock Exchange as early as next month. The acquisition will help NTT expand operations outside Japan.

July 15, 2010

Renown To Plan To Open 2,000 Stores In China

Renown Inc., announced that it plans to set up at least 2,000 shops in China by 2021 under a partnership with major local textile company Shandong Ruyi Science & Technology Group. The troubled Japanese apparel firm will be a Shandong Rui unit through an extraordinary shareholders meeting to be held on July 29 to approve the Chinese company's obtainment of a 41% stake in Renown.

July 14, 2010

Mizuho To Raise About $8.4 Billion In Share Sale

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., one of the largest banks in Japan, announced that it has determined an issue price of ¥130, which is a 3.7% discount to the closing price of ¥135 on the TSE Tuesday. Mizuho has issued 5.609 billion new shares with an over-allotment option of 391 million shares and raised ¥748.02 billion, or about $8.4 billion.

July 13, 2010

China Buys JGBs While Public Pension Fund Sells

China bought 541 billion yen ($6.17 billion) in Japanese government bonds in the first four month this year. Its aim is to diversify its massive foreign-currency reserves in the aftermath of the Greek government debt crisis. On the other hand, the Japanese public pension fund sold a net of 443.2 billion yen of government bonds in fiscal 2009 because reserves continued to dwindle amid rising benefits payments and falling investment returns. The fund held 79.5 trillion yen of JGBs at the end of 2009, or 11.9% of the outstanding balance.

July 12, 2010

BOT-Mitsubishi UFJ To Create Fund For BOJ Growth Loan

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ announced that it plans to launch a fund to extend loans to companies under the Bank of Japan's new lending facility. The BOJ will provide money with 0.1% to financial institutions that lend or invest in sectors the central bank has deemed promising. The fund is expected to reach up to 150 billion yen; each borrower will receive about 5-10 billion yen for a term of up to four years, with the interest rate being re-evaluated annually.

July 09, 2010

Machine Tool Orders Up In June

The Japan Machine Tool Builders' association released that machine tool orders rose for the seventh straight month in June, soaring 140% compared to the same month last year. Domestic demand was up 1.7% from the month before while foreign demand was up 4.6%.

July 08, 2010

Foreign Net Sellers of Japan Stock 2nd Straight Week

The Tokyo Stock Exchange announced that overseas investors were net sellers of Japanese stocks to the tune of 48.2 billion yen for the June 28-July 2 period, marking the second straight week of net sales. For the previous week, overseas investors sold more Japanese stocks than they bought by 138 billion yen.

July 07, 2010

Regional Banks Support Japanese Firms in Asia

Regional banks are expanding into Asia to open new operating bases and form alliances with local financial institutions. They hope to support Japanese companies from their home regions that are pursuing operations overseas, according to Nikkei. For example, the Bank of Nagoya will set up a branch in the Chinese city of Nantong as early as next year. The Bank of Yokohama established a branch in Shanghai last year. Hokuriku Financial Group Inc. allied itself with a major Vietnamese bank at the end of last year. Hiroshima Bank linked an agreement for a business partnership with Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., the largest bank in the Philippines.

July 06, 2010

CITIC raised ¥18 billion for 2nd Japan fund

CITIC Capital Partners announced that its second Japan fund raised ¥18 billion ($200 million) from institutional investors at home and abroad. The fund targets Japanese small to mid-size companies who plan to accelerate business development in China. Using the broad network in China, CITIC has increased the value of portfolio companies. The fund made its first investment in Higashiyama Film Co., a Nagoya-based specialty film processor, and became the top shareholder (63.12%).

July 05, 2010

DRC To Invest In Climbing Goods Shops

Kojitu Co., Ltd., an Jasdaq-listed climbing goods store operator, announced that it will issue shares to DRC Ⅱ, an Tokyo-based investment firm and Pentaland Group Inc., an UK-based company owning 15 brands of sports and leisure apparel, footwear and sporting goods. Kojitu, using proceeds of about 500 million yen, plans to pay the debt. DRC Ⅱ Fund will becomes the second largest shareholder (16.83%) while Pentland will become a minor one (3.30%).

July 02, 2010

BOJ Tankan Key Sentiment Turns Positive

The Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey of business sentiment showed that Japanese corporate sentiment is improving in a growing number of industries due to strong exports. The diffusion index of business sentiment among large manufacturers swung back into positive territory for the first time in two years, up 15 points from three months earlier to 1.