Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking said Monday that it will buy Australian data manager Link Administration Holdings in a deal valued at about 1.11 billion Australian dollars (¥106 billion, $739.9 million), as Japanese lenders build on a slew of commitments to acquire higher returning assets abroad.
The unit of Japan’s largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, will pay AU$2.10 per share, a 23.5% premium to Friday’s closing stock price, according to a statement from Mitsubishi on Monday. Link, in a separate statement, said its board unanimously recommended shareholders vote in favor of the transaction.
The deal comes a year after the Australian pension fund administration firm said that it could not agree to "appropriate terms” with Canada’s Dye & Durham regarding a sale of multiple parts of its business that together had been valued at AU$1.27 billion, ending a monthslong saga of transaction talks.
Since the last takeover talks ceased, the company has been on a turnaround path, sealing the sale of its U.K.-based fund solutions unit to the Waystone Group after a run-in with Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority for administering a now-collapsed fund run by former star money manager Neil Woodford.
Overseas M&A activity from Japanese banks has been notable in recent years as ultralow interest rates at home pushed executives to seek higher returns in places from Asia to the U.S. Those foreign expansions helped to buoy profitability during their recent results where earnings hit an all-time high for the first half.