Reuters has reported that U.S. private equity group Lone Star is auctioning off its roughly $1.4 billion stake in Tokyo Star Bank Ltd. Several buyout firms are in the running to buy all or part of Lone Star’s 68 percent stake in Tokyo Star, sources said.
Lone Star is looking to sell at least half its Tokyo Star holdings, or a third of the bank’s outstanding stock, and has already completed one round of bidding in which several potential buyers were eliminated.
Dallas-based Lone Star raised 90.9 billion yen ($771 million) by floating a third of Tokyo Star in October 2005. But the bank’s share price has since fallen 14 percent from its initial public offering price of 430,000 yen.