Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is ready to deploy "several billion dollars” in riskier funding to companies that need more capital to cope with the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, its chief executive has said.
Japan’s third-largest bank is in talks with corporate clients to provide financing via subordinated loans and purchases of preferred shares totaling more than ¥100 billion ($930 million), and is prepared to supply several times more, Chief Executive Officer Tatsufumi Sakai said.
Such transactions are a key growth area for Mizuho, which has been building its mezzanine and equity financing business to make up for shrinking profitability on regular loans at a time of low domestic interest rates. The pandemic is likely to fuel demand for such funding from struggling companies that need to beef up their balance sheets, Sakai said.