Japanese financial institutions, spared the worst of the subprime crisis, are grabbing big stakes in US banks crushed by a global credit crunch.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's largest bank, said today it planned to take a stake of up to one-fifth in US investment bank Morgan Stanley as part of a strategic alliance.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) said in a statement it would buy 10-20% of the common stock of Morgan Stanley. It said it would decide on the amount it would pay after carrying out due diligence.
Buying 20% of Morgan Stanley would cost MUFG about $6 billion based on its total market value of $30 billion. Morgan Stanley has been under pressure to raise capital amid a sharp fall in its share price.
Meanwhile, top Japanese brokerage group Nomura Holdings has confirmed that it has won a deal to buy all Asian operations of collapsed US investment firm Lehman Brothers.
Nomura Holdings said it would offer employment to all 3,000 Lehman Brothers workers in Asia.
Japanese banks have been conservative lenders since suffering their own crisis of bad loans a decade ago, shying away from high-risk subprime assets lent by US banks to high-risk American customers.
