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Softbank-led consortium forfeits Nippon Credit Bank priority rights |
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News |
June 1, 2000
TOKYO, MAY 31 (AP) - Japanese Internet giant Softbank Corp. and its partners missed a second deadline Wednesday for exclusive bidding rights for failed lender Nippon Credit Bank.
The Softbank-led group and the government broke off talks because of differences over how much the consortium should set aside to cover losses, should some of the bank's corporate borrowers declare bankruptcy, said Masahiko Hasegawa, a spokesman for the Financial Reconstruction Commission.
The Financial Reconstruction Commission is the government agency charged with managing failed banks that have been temporarily nationalized.
The impasse means that the May 31 deadline giving Softbank's group exclusive rights to negotiate the purchase will lapse. Softbank said it will continue to bid for the bank.
In February, the commission gave the Softbank group exclusive rights to negotiate the purchase. The consortium also includes leasing company Orix Corp. and nonlife insurer Tokio Marine and Fire Insurance Co.
Wednesday was the second time the Softbank group failed to meet its deadline for buying the bank. The initial April 30 deadline expired without an agreement.
Hasegawa said the commission will resume talks with other investors, including those from the United States. Nippon Credit Bank is one of three long-term credit banks that helped Japan rebuild its industries after World War II. It was declared insolvent and put under government control in 1998.
The
Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, another failed long-term lender, was sold
to a group of foreign investors led by U.S. fund Ripplewood Holdings LLC.
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