Japanese financial group SBI Holdings is considering delisting mid-size lender Shinsei Bank Ltd and will explore options with the country’s banking regulator, the Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday.
SBI said this month it planned to increase its stake to a majority 50.05% by the end of March. It raised its holding to around 48% last year.
An SBI spokesperson said it had nothing to announce at this time. A spokesperson for the Financial Services Agency banking regulator declined to comment.
SBI‘s chief executive has previously said that a delisting would be one option for Shinsei, in order to help it return $3 billion in public funds still owed to the government.
The Japanese government owns about 20% of Shinsei following its bankruptcy in Japan’s late 1990s banking crisis.
It was later sold to private equity investors JC Flowers & Co and Ripplewood, in a landmark deal that generated huge profits for the foreign investors. SBI first took a stake in Shinsei after JC Flowers sold down its holding in 2019.
Reuters