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Mitsubishi to buy 21% stake of Morgan Stanley

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-30 13:40

TOKYO  -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Inc. said Monday it will buy a 21 percent stake in the second- largest US brokerage Morgan Stanley for 9 billion US dollars, according to Kyodo news agency.

Related readings:  Morphed banks Morgan Stanley, Goldman search for deposits  Morgan Stanley to sell 20% stake in itself  Morgan Stanley held talks with China's CITIC

The move is seen as a further step to bail out US financial institutions embroiled in wide-spread economic turmoil.

Under an agreement with Morgan Stanley, MUFG will implement a 3 billion-dollar portion of the investment via a common share purchase and the remaining 6 billion  dollars through the purchase of perpetual preferred shares.

The deal allows MUFG to keep its equity stake in Morgan Stanley above the 20 percent line.

In addition, it will have the right to send and keep an MUFG banker on the Morgan Stanley board as long as it holds a stake of 10 percent or more, Kyodo said.

Mitsubishi, Japan's largest banking group, announced on September 22 that the two firms had reached an agreement on Mitsubishi's purchasing between 10 to 20 percent of the common shares in Morgan Stanley.