Nikko Securities Co. Ltd. said Monday, February 26, it had decided to sell a 50 percent stake in its wholly owned trust banking subsidiary to US financial services giant Citigroup Inc. Nikko will sell the stake in Nikko Trust and Banking Co. Ltd., the company said in a statement.
"After the stake sale, Nikko Trust and Banking will become a joint venture between Nikko Securities and Citigroup," it said. A Nikko spokeswoman declined to give any details about the cost or timing of the transaction.
The business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said the deal would involve 200,000 shares worth over 10 billion yen ($86 million). Nikko Securities declined to confirm the figures.
Citigroup and Nikko have had business and capital ties since June 1998 and have a major joint-venture investment bank in Japan, Nikko Salomon Smith Barney Ltd. The US financial giant holds a 20.79 percent stake in Nikko Securities. —(AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
