CTBC Financial Holding Co’s (中信金控) talks to acquire Tokyo Star Bank for about ￥50 billion (US$498 million) have stalled amid a disagreement over the price, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
Shareholders of closely held Tokyo Star Bank, including Dallas-based Lone Star Funds, Shinsei Bank and Aozora Bank — have rejected the offer from Taipei-based CTBC, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
An acquisition of Tokyo Star Bank by CTBC would mark the first takeover of a Japanese commercial bank by a foreign lender. Lone Star, the fund run by John Grayken, initially bought the predecessor of Tokyo Star Bank in 2001 for ￥40 billion, about two years after the lender was bailed out by the government.
CTBC started discussions with Tokyo Star Bank’s owners late last year, one of the people said. At ￥50 billion, the deal would be the largest inbound investment in Japan’s banking industry since 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Tokyo Star Bank posted a 68 percent gain in profit to ￥4.5 billion for the year ended March 31, in part because of lower bad-loan costs.
Spokespeople for CTBC, Lone Star, Shinsei Bank and Aozora Bank declined to comment on the discussions.
Chika Yamazaki, a spokeswoman for Tokyo Star Bank, said the bank was not a position to comment on the matter.
Tokyo Star Bank’s rising profit, combined with the surging shares of rival lenders, bolstered shareholders’ expectations of a higher price, two of the people said.
Lone Star agreed to sell Tokyo Star Bank to Japanese buyout firm Advantage Partners LLC in December 2007, and less than four years later took control of the lender again together with Shinsei and Aozora.
Tokyo Star Bank was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2008 after the acquisition by Advantage. The lender had ￥1.53 trillion of loans outstanding as of March 31, with 31 branches and 1,256 employees, according to the company’s Web site.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
Industrial production expanded 22.31 percent annually last month to 107.51, as increases in demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove demand for locally-made chips and components. The manufacturing production index climbed 23.68 percent year-on-year to 108.37, marking the 14th consecutive month of increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. In the first four months of this year, industrial and manufacturing production indices expanded 14.31 percent and 15.22 percent year-on-year, ministry data showed. The growth momentum is to extend into this month, with the manufacturing production index expected to rise between 11 percent and 15.1 percent annually, Department of Statistics
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
RSS