Daiwa to Acquire Orix Bank for 370 B. Yen

Tokyo, April 27 (Jiji Press)--Daiwa Securities Group Inc. said Monday that it will acquire Orix Bank, a fully owned unit of major Japanese financial service provider Orix Corp., in a deal worth 370 billion yen.

Daiwa Next Bank, which is under the wing of the major Japanese securities group, will buy all outstanding Orix Bank shares by October. Daiwa Next Bank and Orix Bank will aim to integrate their operations in the future.

The two Tokyo-based banks' combined assets are seen totaling about 9 trillion yen.

The deal is partly aimed at strengthening Daiwa Next Bank's loan functions at a time when competition among banks for deposits is intensifying amid rising interest rates in Japan.

The two banks hope to increase their combined deposits by 2 trillion yen over the next five years by offering higher interest rates than now.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]