Monex Group Inc., the parent of online brokerage Monex Inc., said Monday it has made another online brokerage, Orix Securities Corp., into a wholly owned subsidiary via a stock swap.
Under the deal that took effect Sunday, Monex Group obtained 434,195 Orix Securities shares from Orix Corp., the parent of Orix Securities, it said.
Monex Group said it intends to merge the two online brokerages, possibly by the end of May.
The deal also gave Orix a 22.5 percent stake in Monex Group.
The merger will create Japan's second-largest online brokerage by revenue, after SBI Securities Co.
The combined revenues of Monex, currently the third-largest online brokerage, and Orix Securities, the seventh largest, were ¥31.8 billion, based on their combined results for fiscal 2008.
The merger aims to help Monex and Orix ride out the harsh business environment, which grew worse with the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008, analysts said.