Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said Thursday it would buy the Philippine and Indonesian units of Dutch consumer finance company Home Credit Group for about €596 million ($621 million, ¥86.2 billion).
The deal comes as Japan's largest lender aims to beef up its business in Asia to tap growth in consumption in emerging markets, while ultralow interest rates and an aging population limit business opportunities at home.
Home Credit's main services include point-of-sales loans, offered to customers for their purchases of goods and services at the point of sale both physical and online.
The acquisitions will be made through Japanese unit MUFG Bank, Thai unit Bank of Ayudhya and Indonesian unit Adira Dinamika Multi Finance (ADMF), with the deal to be completed within 2023, the company said.
Home Credit (HC) is controlled by the Czech Republic's biggest investment group, PPF, which was founded by late billionaire Petr Kellner.
It reported a wider loss in the first half of 2022, mainly due to the impact from the sale of Russian operations. It said, however, all its countries except for China were profitable in the period as it recovered from the pandemic's effects.
Mitsubishi UFJ, which owns about 22% of Morgan Stanley, is completing its $8 billion sale of MUFG Union Bank to U.S. Bancorp as part of its global business reshuffle.
Among Japanese banks, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group said this month it would buy an additional 15% stake in the Philippines' Rizal Commercial Banking for about $460 million.
After the completion of the deal, Bank of Ayudhya will hold 75% of the shares of HC Philippines and 75% of the shares of HC Indonesia. MUFG Bank will hold 25% of HC Philippines, and ADMF will hold 10% of HC Indonesia shares.