SBI Raises Stake in Shinsei Bank in Step Toward Privatization

SBI Holdings Inc. increased its stake in SBI Shinsei Bank Ltd. following its tender offer for the lender as the Japanese financial group looked to gain a further foothold in the banking sector.

(Bloomberg) — SBI Holdings Inc. increased its stake in SBI Shinsei Bank Ltd. following its tender offer for the lender as the Japanese financial group looked to gain a further foothold in the banking sector.

SBI’s stake in Shinsei climbed by 3.7 percentage points to 53.74%, the company said in a statement on Saturday, a day after the offer was completed. 

Yoshitaka Kitao’s SBI plans to take the bank private, a move that will give him a greater flexibility in paying back taxpayers’ money Shinsei has owed since it received a government rescue package more than two decades ago.

The government, which holds about a 23% stake in Shinsei, supports the delisting plan, giving Kitao the two-thirds of votes he needs to squeeze out minority shareholders. SBI plans to delist Shinsei following an extraordinary general shareholders meeting likely to be held in or around August, it said in the statement.

Read a Bloomberg Markets interview with Kitao

Tokyo-based SBI acquired Shinsei in 2021 as part of Chief Executive Officer Kitao’s ambitions to shake up Japan’s financial sector. The group, which operates Japan’s biggest online brokerage, has been investing in several regional banks since 2019.

–With assistance from Nao Sano.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.