SBI Japan CEO Says It Is Worth Considering Option To Privatize Shinsei Bank

SBI Holdings CEO Yoshitaka Kitao speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tokyo, Japan on July 7, 2020. REUTERS / Junko Fujita

TOKYO, Dec.22 (Reuters) – The managing director of Japanese financial services firm SBI Holdings Inc (8473.T), which owns nearly 48% of the capital of Shinsei Bank Ltd (8303.T), said on Wednesday that it was worth pursuing the option of depriving the lender of more than $ 3 billion in public funds received twenty years ago.

SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao made the comment at a press conference after SBI finalized a take-over bid for Shinsei Bank, raising its stake in the midsize lender to 47.77%, from around 20%.

“We have just started exploring the possibility (of removing Shinsei privately),” Kitao said. “We plan to discuss this matter with the Financial Services Agency (regulator).”

The Shinsei Bank, with a market capitalization of nearly 500 billion yen, still owes the government the 350 billion yen ($ 3.09 billion) of public money it received during a banking crisis there. has two decades.

As a result, the government still owns around 20% of Shinsei. To recoup the full amount loaned by selling shares in the market, Shinsei shares would need to rise to around 7,500 yen. Shinsei shares jumped more than 7% to 1,929 yen early Wednesday.

($ 1 = 114.0900 yen)

Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Tom Hogue and Kenneth Maxwell

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