Major Japanese insurers to offload $3.1 bln of Honda shares, sources say
02/07/2024 06:45
By Miho Uranaka
TOKYO, July 2 (Reuters) - Four of Japan's top property
and casualty insurers and other financial firms plan to sell
around 500 billion yen ($3.1 billion) of shares in Honda Motor
7267.T , three people said, as the unwinding of
cross-shareholding practices accelerates.
Tokio Marine Holdings 8766.T Sompo Holdings 8630.T and
two units of MS&AD Insurance Group 8725.T will together
offload shares in the automaker, said the people, who declined
to be identified because the information has not been made
public.
Other financial institutions will also pare back their Honda
stakes, bringing the total sale to around 500 billion yen based
on Honda's current share price, the sources said.
Honda is set to soon formally give the insurers the go-ahead
to sell its shares, the sources said.
The automaker has already announced plans to buy back up
to 300 billion yen of its shares during the current financial
year, a move seen as helping absorb some of the impact from the
sale.
Honda declined to comment on the insurers' sale, saying only
that the information was not something it itself had announced.
Spokespeople for Tokio Marine and MS&AD declined to comment.
Sompo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
($1 = 161.5900 yen)
(Reporting by Miho Uranaka; Additional reporting by Maki
Shiraki; Writing by Anton Bridge; Editing by David Dolan and
Christopher Cushing)
((Anton.Bridge@thomsonreuters.com;))