MUFG Mulling Canceling Citigroup Japan Operations Purchase - Report
May 09 2009 - 4:33AM
Dow Jones News
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (8306.TO) is considering
canceling its plan to buy Citigroup Inc.'s (C) trust banking unit
in Japan, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Saturday.
The decision comes as the U.S. bank's Japanese trust business
unit, NikkoCiti Trust & Banking Corp., is expected to share the
responsibility for refunding overcharged loan interest at one of
its major borrowers, SFCG Co., a bankrupt corporate financing firm,
the Japanese daily reported.
Mitsubishi UFJ's trust banking subsidiary, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust
& Banking Corp., said in December last year that it would buy
NikkoCiti Trust from Citigroup International and Nikko Citi
Holdings, Citigroup's local holding company for its Japanese
securities business, for Y25 billion in April.
Mitsubishi UFJ was also among the bidders for Citigroup's
Japanese brokerage operations, but Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
Inc. (8316.TO) recently agreed to buy most of those operations for
about Y545 billion.
-By Kazuhiro Shimamura, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6895-7566;
kazuhiro.shimamura@dowjones.com