This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 20, 2017

HONG KONG: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) launched the sale of up to US$620 million (RM2.6 billion) of shares in CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, selling its remaining stake in Malaysia’s No 2 biggest lender, IFR reported yesterday.

Citing a term sheet for the transaction, IFR said MUFG, Japan’s biggest bank by assets, is offering 412.5 million shares in CIMB owned by The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd in the range of RM6.15 to RM6.30 each.

The Thomson Reuters publication said the low end of the price band is equivalent to a discount of 4.8% to CIMB’s yesterday’s close of RM6.46.

An MUFG spokesman in Tokyo said the bank is considering the sale of its CIMB shares, but the number of shares and price have not been determined and declined further comment. CIMB declined to comment.

MUFG, which has US$2.8 trillion in assets, has been reviewing its investment portfolio, especially the small stakes held in overseas banks which it had bought in the past few years as a means to building alliances.

CIMB, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley were hired as bookrunners on the sale, IFR said. — Reuters