Japan’s SBI CEO says worth pursuing option to take Shinsei Bank private

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SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao made the comment at a news conference after SBI completed a tender offer for Shinsei Bank, raising its holding in the mid-sized lender to 47.77% from about 20%.

“We’ve just started exploring the possibility (of taking Shinsei private),” Kitao said. “We plan to discuss this matter with the Financial Services Agency (regulator).”

Shinsei Bank, with a market capitalisation of close to 500 billion yen, still owes the government the 350 billion yen ($3.09 billion) in public money it received during a banking crisis two decades ago.

As a result, the government still owns about 20% of Shinsei. In order for it to recoup the full amount lent by selling shares on the market, Shinsei stock would need to go up to around 7,500 yen. Shinsei shares jumped over 7% to 1,929 yen early on Wednesday.

($1 = 114.0900 yen)

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