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Japanese Banks Snap Up Wall St. Holdings
TOKYO, Sept. 23 -- Major Japanese banks, fat with cash and nearly free of toxic investments, are spotting opportunity in the global financial mess and snapping up substantial holdings on Wall Street. Because many Japanese banks and brokerage houses have vast amounts of cash while U.S. banks are increasingly desperate for it, analysts here say more major purchases are likely in coming days and weeks as the financial crisis churns on.Nomura Holdings on Tuesday announced it would buy the European and Middle Eastern divisions of the failed Lehman Brothers investment bank -- just one day after it had picked up Lehman's Asia-Pacific franchise. Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection last week. Japan's largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ, said Monday it would acquire 10 to 20 percent of Morgan Stanley, a deal that could make the Tokyo bank the largest shareholder in a profitable company that is one of the crown jewels of global investing. The deal is valued at up to $8.4 billion, a relative snack for a bank with $1.15 trillion in deposits as of March. Posted by: Glinetle McGurque6029 2008-09-23 |
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