Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan's largest brokerage, will make its biggest domestic acquisition as it leads an investment group paying at least ¥280 billion for the failed Ashikaga Bank Ltd.
Japan's banking regulator said it chose the Nomura-led group to buy the regional lender, nationalized in 2003. The investors will buy ¥120 billion in existing Ashikaga shares and ¥160 billion of new stock in the bank, the Financial Services Agency said Friday.
Acquiring Ashikaga, with deposits of about ¥4.2 trillion, will be Nomura's first attempt to revitalize a bank. The sale will help the government recoup money spent bailing out financial firms in the 1990s after the biggest lenders completed repayments.