Kobe Steel Is Said to Hire Mizuho as Adviser on Real Estate Sale
Kobe Steel Is Said to Hire Mizuho as Adviser on Real Estate Sale
(Bloomberg) -- Kobe Steel Ltd. hired Mizuho Securities Co. to advise it on the sale of a real estate unit to raise cash as a scandal over faked data engulfs the embattled steelmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The company will hold the first round of bidding on Oct. 20 to sell more than two thirds of Shinko Real Estate Co., the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private. Foreign and Japanese funds, property developers and non-real estate firms are interested in bidding for the unit, which has assets of about 90 billion yen ($800 million), the people said.
Revelations this month that Kobe Steel falsified certifications on the strength of its metals for at least a decade have raised questions over whether the company can withstand compensation costs. The U.S. Department of Justice this week requested documents related to the scandal, which may affect companies including Ford Motor Co. and Boeing Co.
Japan’s third-largest steelmaker is seeking to sell about 70 percent of its shares in Shinko Real Estate and remain a minority shareholder, the people said. Kobe Steel plans to hold the second round of bidding later this year and close the transaction by March 31, they said. The company could halt the deal process if the situation changes, according to the people.
A Kobe Steel executive said earlier this week that the steelmaker is considering the sale of its real estate unit but that it isn’t linked to its wider problems.
Representatives from Kobe Steel and Mizuho declined to comment on the deal.
To contact the reporters on this story: Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.net, Kiyotaka Matsuda in Tokyo at kmatsuda@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Yuji Okada at yokada6@bloomberg.net, Russell Ward, Alexander Kwiatkowski