Tag - mergers

 
 

MERGERS

Nomura Securities' trading room in Tokyo. Nomura Holdings took the top spot in advising on Japanese mergers and acquisitions in 2025.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 29, 2026
Nomura beats Goldman to top spot in record M&A year for Japan
The total value of mergers and acquisition transactions in Japan shot up 89% to a record ¥59.5 trillion in 2025.
Shinichiro Funabiki, president of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings suggested the insurance group is set to consolidate its domestic bases from some 360 to 240.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 12, 2026
Japan insurer MS&AD to consolidate domestic bases
The major nonlife insurer aims to achieve ¥700 billion in profit as the basis for shareholder returns in fiscal 2030.
Daiwa Securities Group CEO Akihiko Ogino says the firm has restarted hiring merger advisory staff overseas and is boosting a team of cross-border deal specialists.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 23, 2025
Daiwa resumes hiring for mergers and acquisitions amid ‘vibrant’ Japan market
Japan’s second-largest brokerage had paused such hiring after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements clouded the outlook for deals.
Citigroup plans to expand the investment banking division in Japan by about 30% by the first half of 2026, Japan Vice Chair Masuo Fukuda said, to capitalize on a record-breaking boom in mergers and acquisitions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 23, 2025
Citigroup to boost Japan investment banking team on deal boom
The U.S. bank plans to expand the division about 30% by the first half of 2026, Japan Vice Chair Masuo Fukuda said in an interview.
A stock board in Tokyo earlier this month. Corporate governance reforms aimed at improving shareholder returns are helping to transform Japan into a hive of activity when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2025
Record $350 billion deals boom fuels upbeat M&A outlook in Japan
Corporate governance reforms aimed at improving shareholder returns are helping to transform Japan into a hive of activity.
The number of Japanese firms trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is on track to drop by 58 to 3,778 by the end of the year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 4, 2025
M&A boom fuels record decline in Japan’s listed companies
The number of Japanese firms trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is on track to drop by 58 to 3,778 by the end of the year.
Recent mergers and lower valuations are fueling investor bets that more deals may come among Japan’s 73 listed smaller banks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 25, 2025
Rate hikes drive Japan regional banks toward mergers to survive
Decades after a debt crisis forced a wave of mergers that created mega lenders, the focus now is on consolidation in Japan’s $3 trillion regional banking industry.
Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor, speaks during a media preview at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Oct. 29. Minority investors are challenging the carmaker's bid to take affiliate Toyota Industries Corp. private.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 5, 2025
The Toyota buyout is a major test for Japan’s reforms
A letter signed by two dozen investors addressed “widespread concern” about the plan to buy out Toyota Industries Corp., also known as TICO.
Japanese companies have raised $132 billion in foreign-currency bond and loan deals arranged by banks so far in 2025, up 56% from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 4, 2025
Japan’s $132 billion borrowing binge reshapes global credit
Underscoring the unprecedented shift onto the global stage, annual overseas note issuance is on course to exceed debt sales in yen for the first time ever.
Regulators are ratcheting up pressure on startups to gain more scale before debuting on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, warning that the TSE will seek to delist companies that fail to reach a market value of at least ¥10 billion within five years of going public.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 21, 2025
Deals for startups reach record in Japan before listing curbs
Starting in 2030, the Tokyo Stock Exchange will seek to delist companies that fail to reach a market value of at least ¥10 billion within five years of going public.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about trade at the Granite City Works steel coil warehouse in Granite City, Illinois, in July 2018.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2025
Trump officials used ‘golden share’ to block U.S. Steel from stopping work at plant
The move highlighed the federal government’s continued influence over an iconic American firm after approving its takeover by Nippon Steel.
Mizuho Financial Group plans to deepen ties between its banking and securities units in Asia and Europe in order to boost revenues, according to Yutaka Nanjo, head of global investment banking at Mizuho Securities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 2, 2025
Mizuho plans more dealmaking to become top Asia investment bank
Japan’s third-largest financial group is seeking to replicate the headways it has made in the U.S., where it far outranks its Japanese peers.
The Nippon Steel logo is displayed at the company's East Nippon Works Kimitsu Area plant in Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture, in May.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 2, 2025
Nippon Steel swings into quarterly loss
The Japanese steelmaker said Friday that it had posted a consolidated net loss of ¥195.8 billion for the fiscal first quarter, against the year-before profit of ¥157.5 billion.
Brett Clark, Dai-ichi Life Holdings' senior managing executive officer in charge of the Asia-Pacific region
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2025
Japan’s Dai-ichi Life eyes M&A in Southeast Asia for growth
Japan’s biggest listed life insurer is looking at the Philippines and Malaysia as emerging markets that offer business opportunities as more households ascend to middle class.
Medipal is expanding into areas such as animal health products and drug development as margins from selling pharmaceuticals become squeezed in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2025
Medipal seeks to diversify amid falling drug margins
Japan’s largest drug wholesaler is seeking to boost profit, excluding extraordinary items, to ¥100 billion by March 2027 from ¥65 billion in the latest fiscal year.
U.S. President Donald Trump receives a gold helmet with his name on it during a visit to U.S. Steel in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2025
Trump himself will wield U.S. Steel ‘golden share’ superpowers
After the U.S. president leaves office, the authority will move to executive branch departments.
Nippon Steel Chairman and CEO Eiji Hashimoto (left) and Nippon Steel Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President Takahiro Mori. The Japanese company is still undecided about a civil suit filed against a U.S. competitor.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2025
Nippon Steel drops lawsuit against U.S. government after acquiring U.S. Steel
The Japanese company had challenged the legality of U.S. President Joe Biden’s rejection of the acquisition.
Japan’s governance reforms launched in 2015 sparked a surge in M&A and investor activism, but critics warn the resulting foreign takeovers and short-term focus may come at a cost.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 20, 2025
Has Japan’s corporate revolution worked too well?
From private equity to activist investors to consolidation among companies fearful they’ll be targeted next, no acquisition seems beyond the pale.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s reversal on the Nippon Steel deal creates a "win-win-win-win" situation benefiting both companies, the U.S. economy, and the Japan-U.S. alliance, but the golden share raises concerns about increased government control.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 17, 2025
Nippon Steel deal signals a win for the U.S. economy and Japan alliance
Last week, Trump lifted the Biden block, saying that the acquisition could go forward if the two companies signed a national security agreement with the U.S. government.
Nippon Steel is buying United States Steel in a deal that gives the U.S. government a golden share in the U.S. steelmaker.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 16, 2025
Nippon Steel may have gotten the deal it wanted all along
The Japanese company has already committed to heavy investment in U.S. Steel and a U.S.-controlled board of directors at the American steelmaker.

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