Japan's SBI to extend offer for Shinsei by a month on some conditions

FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past a logo of the Shinsei Bank at its branch in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, June 23, 2010. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) – SBI Holdings said on Friday it would extend the deadline for its $1.1 billion unsolicited tender offer to Nov. 24 from Oct. 25 for Shinsei Bank if Shinsei agrees to meet certain conditions.

SBI – which owns Japan’s largest online brokerage, operates an online bank and has stakes in multiple regional banks – is planning to lift its stake in Shinsei to as much as 48% from 20% to take effective control of the lender.

Struggling to find ways to thwart the takeover, Shinsei said (here) last week it would seek shareholder approval on an undecided date to issue stock warrants to existing shareholders. It was also requesting the deadline extension for the tender offer to Dec. 8.

In a letter that was released publicly and responded to Shinsei’s request for an extension, SBI cited four conditions that needed to be met, including that the Shinsei board explain specific grounds as to why SBI’s bid would damage corporate value.

The Japanese financial conglomerate also demanded Shinsei hold a shareholder meeting by Nov. 17 to seek approval for its planned poison-pill defence against SBI’s bid, a measure that would dilute SBI’s stake.

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