Japanese insurers, banks to sell Honda shares worth $3.3 bln, filing shows (updated)
04/07/2024 08:15
(Adds details and background in paragraphs 2,4 and 6)
TOKYO, July 4 (Reuters) - Japanese financial groups
including Tokio Marine 8766.T , Sompo 8630.T and two MS&AD
8725.T units will sell Honda Motor 7267.T shares worth 535
billion yen ($3.3 billion) to unwind cross-shareholdings, a
regulatory filing showed on Thursday.
Mitsubishi UFJ 8306.T and Mizuho 8411.T , Japan's first-
and third-largest financial groups, also plan to participate in
the sale, a sign that the unwinding of cross-shareholdings is
catching pace as part of Japan's corporate governance reforms.
Reuters reported the insurers' plans earlier this week.
Cross-shareholding, or companies holding shares in each
other, has long been seen as a way to reinforce business ties in
Japan. But governance experts and foreign investors said it
leads to lax governance by protecting management from
shareholders.
The secondary share offering from a total of 10 financial
institutions would come up to 300 million shares including
over-allotment, with the price yet to be decided. Honda's shares
ended at 1,791 yen on Thursday, valuing the offering at about
535 billion yen.
The four non-life insurers, which include MS&AD Insurance
subsidiaries Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and Aioi Nissay Dowa,
have previously said they would cut their entire
cross-shareholdings to zero in a few years, in response to a
price-fixing scandal last year.
Honda was one of the top five cross-shareholding companies
for the insurers except for Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance,
according to securities filings in March.
($1 = 161.4100 yen)
(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Anton Bridge; Editing by
Chang-Ran Kim and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
((Kantaro.Komiya@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @kantarokomiya;))