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Strategies & Market Trends : JAPAN-Nikkei-Time to go back up? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chirodoc who wrote (1302)	7/29/1998 11:32:00 PM
From: JEFF CHAPMAN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3902

Anyone think GE's recent actions may be signaling a bottom in Japan? (COMTEX) B: GE Capital to take 80 pc stake in Ryoshin Leasing B: GE Capital to take 80 pc stake in Ryoshin Leasing TOKYO, July 30 (Kyodo) -- In its latest foray into Japan's financial market, GE Capital Services Corp. of the United States is in final negotiations regarding an 80% stake in Ryoshin Leasing Corp., sources familiar with the deal said Thursday. Ryoshin Leasing, which is mainly owned by Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsubishi Trust and Banking Corp., would be the latest of a series of acquisitions of Japanese financial service firms by GE Capital, following its takeover of Lake Co., a consumer credit services company, earlier this month. If the deal goes through, Ryoshin Leasing would be owned by about 80% by GE Capital, with Mitsubishi and Mitsubishi Trust owning the remainder, the sources said. The deal would give GE Capital a foothold in aircraft and machinery leasing business, the areas that Ryoshin Leasing is primarily engaged in. The three parties are expected to make a formal announcement on the deal as early as Friday, after final negotiations involving Gary Wendt, chairman and chief executive officer of GE Capital, and Mitsubishi Corp. Chairman Minoru Makihara, the sources said. Makihara returns home Thursday evening from an overseas business trip, they said. Mitsubishi Corp. and its group companies now own 51.8% of Ryoshin Leasing, while Mitsubishi Trust and its affiliates own 34.5%. The remainder is owned mainly by other Mitsubishi group companies, including the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsubishi Trust, as the two largest shareholders in Ryoshin Leasing, expect to purchase shares held by other Mitsubishi group companies for sale to GE Capital for several tens of billions of yen, the sources said. GE Capital Services, the finance arm of General Electric Co., is the world's largest nonbank finance company, and has been expanding in Japan's financial market since 1994. Besides taking over Lake, GE Capital set up a life insurance company in a tie-up with Toho Mutual Life Insurance Co. this year. -0- * end of story * BTW, I got this story from mytrack.com's software which is free and can be downloaded here: mytrack.com If you do sign up for this (you get Comtex newswires around the clock on markets around the world plus Marketguide reports for free, with news/quotes/ticker in 'pushed' streaming format), please put 'Muthavugah' in the referred by field...

To: chirodoc who wrote (1302)	7/30/1998 12:53:00 AM
From: Step1	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3902

>>>...things won't happen fast--the changes will happen anyway driven by the markets ....now that dereg of financial has happened all of those japanese economists/bankers/stock analysts are bombarded by goldman, merril, fidelity, etc. ....the era of top down government is over--the free markets will force the change even if the old farts at the MOF don't like it.<<< Curtis, you are quite right about change happening without the old farts. As far as I see it from here, already change is happening very fast at the corporate and private level. A shift in mentality is taking place and the politicians are only trying to keep up. I am not sure the LDP will manage to stay with the times, dinosaures disappeared almost overnight apparently and that could happen to them too. In a best case scenario for the LDP, it answers the call for thorough change and stays in power. Worst case is they try to maintain the status quo while putting a fresh coat of paint and get voted out the next time around. Either way , sooner or later things will turn around, and the market seems to have a hard time pushing lower while it is not exactly beating records on the way up either, I feel most of the bad news is discounted already. More bad news might just get shrugged from now on, as a what else is new attitude sets in. The people I work with are pissed off at the ldp and most are not afraid to say it quite bluntly. As a political analyst was saying a couple of weeks ago, people understand change will be painful but they know it is inevitable. Right now they are just getting the pain part without the change part. While I read quite a few mainstream english language business magazines, I find that they often missed the mark as to the extent that subtle changes are happening relentlessly at the societal level here. They have focused overwhelmingly on the govvernment, which is in any country is usually the last one to change. While it is true that only the government can fix the bad loan mess, companies are changing the way they operate or are just plain disappearing... gone, entirely. Sanyo Brokerage just announced it was closing down in a month after failing to find a buyer to take them over ... Hell, Barings was sold for a dollar... Nevertheless, I think that most Japanese people are happy to see competition come in because it gives them so much more choice. For six years I wondered why ATMs at banks opened at 9:00 and closed down at 19:00 pm and there was only one open in my city on Sunday. Wonder no more, they are open from 8:00 to 21:00 now, 7 days a week since April 1st. Big Bang? I don't know, but there seems to be a lot done for consumers these days that wasn't there before. Nomura Securities also has its own ATM system now and it will have the same banking hours as the banks. They pay more interest too (well, 0.8% compared to .25%, still better...) It will be interesting to see what happens next , that's for sure. sg