Mitsui Mutual Life, the Japanese insurance company planning to de-mutualise next April, expects the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) to retain a 42.9 percent stake after the demutualisation – according to a report in Nihon Keizai Shimbun. SMBC already provides Mitsui Mutual, an affiliated company, with capital.
The report suggests that Mitsui group companies are expected to hold four fifths of the insurer after demutualisation and that other members of the group – such as Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking and Mitsui & Co – have been approached. The goal is to finalise shareholdings by the end of September.
In May, SMBC and Mitsui Mutual denied a similar report in the Nihon Keizai, saying SMBC had no plan to bring the insurer under its control by taking a 40 per cent stake.