Sumitomo Mitsui May Buy Japan Citigroup
April 25, 2009 by Stephen Kersey
Filed under Business
According to reports on Saturday, Sumitomo Mitsui, one of Japan’s top three banks, now has exclusive negotiating rights from Citigroup to acquire Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. — Citigroup Inc.’s Japanese brokerage unit.
Exclusive negotiating rights are awarded to the highest bidder. Reportedly Sumitomo Mitsui offered approximately 500 billion yen ($5 billion USD) to beat out Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, according to the Nikkei business daily newspaper.
Kyodo news agency also reported that Sumitomo Mitsui has attained negotiating rights from Citigroup to buy Nikko Cordial, Japan’s third-biggest brokerage.
Citigroup is trying to scale back in Japan in order to deal with the global economic crisis.
Image: Flickr
