The Tokyo High Court gave the go-ahead Tuesday for Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. to appeal its ruling allowing merger talks between UFJ Holdings Inc. and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc.
As a result of the approval, the Supreme Court will have to make a judgment on Sumitomo Trust's claim that UFJ cannot start trust merger negotiations with a third party because it had agreed to sell its trust unit, UFJ Trust Bank, to Sumitomo Trust.
The Code of Civil Procedure regulates that a high court must approve an appeal against one of its ruling to the top court if the judgment runs counter to Supreme Court precedents or if it entails key matters concerning the interpretation of the law.