The Financial Reconstruction Commission on Tuesday effectively named an investment consortium led by Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C. of the United States as the buyer of the nationalized Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan.
By the end of the year, if everything goes as planned, LTCB will become the first major Japanese commercial bank to come under foreign ownership. LTCB was declared bankrupt with heavy losses under massive bad loans and placed under temporary state control last October.
The sale should affect the nation's financial sector realignment as Ripplewood has a clear vision of improving the bank's profitability, FRC Chairman Hakuo Yanagisawa said.