Debt-swamped Seibu Department Stores Ltd. is expected to become the first company to seek rehabilitation under the planned government-backed industrial revival body, government and company sources said Wednesday.
The government will step up efforts to make arrangements for the planned body to purchase outstanding loans to Seibu from some 30 financial institutions that are not Seibu's main creditors, the sources said.
On Tuesday, Seibu requested that its six main creditor banks, led by Mizuho Corporate Bank, and Credit Saison Co., a member of the Seibu group of companies, provide 230 billion yen in financial aid.