Panasonic Corp. (PC) provided another update on the acquisition of SANYO Electric Co Ltd. (SANYY) at its Board Meeting held on Nov 4, 2009. The company announced the start of its tender offer to acquire 3.1 billion shares of SANYO (or more than 50% of the company’s total shares) for approximately $4.4 billion (403 billion yen).  Earlier, Panasonic had planned to take over all of Sanyo's shares. Panasonic had entered into a capital and business alliance agreement with SANYO in Dec 2008. The latter is a leading company in the rechargeable battery business focused on lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. Panasonic is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic and electrical products, systems and components.  The tender offer is planned for Nov 5 through Dec 7 at a price of $1.4 or 131 yen per share. Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (Sanyo's ...

AMB Property Corp. (AMB), a leading real estate investment trust (REIT), recently refinanced a $325 million unsecured term loan facility scheduled to mature in September 2010, and replaced it with a $345 million loan facility maturing in October 2012.   The refinancing has enabled AMB to include Euro and Yen multi-currency options in the loan facility. Furthermore, under the terms of the refinancing deal, AMB has the option to increase the loan facility to $425 million at any given point of time prior to October 2011.   With the recent transaction, AMB has strengthened its financial position and displayed its continued ability to tap the debt markets under the current credit-constrained market. The deal had J. P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. as the lead arrangers and book managers. Engaged in investment banking activities in the U.S., J.P. Morgan Securities is the primary non-bank subsidiary ...

The yen rose across the board on Friday as a pullback in Wall Street shares and a drop in oil prices negated upbeat U.S. consumer sentiment, rekindling safe-haven demand for the Japanese currency.

The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies, touching a nearly one-year low earlier, as the sell-off continued, on track for its worst weekly performance in more than three months. The greenback also fell to a fresh 2009 low versus the euro, but it recouped most of its losses.

The prospects for economic recovery and low U.S. borrowing rates continued to encourage investors to move cash out of the dollar into riskier assets in other currencies.

“Today we’re getting a little bit more action versus the yen and weaker U.S. stocks are helping,” said Patrick Brodie, chief FX dealer at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in New York.

The yen typically benefits when there is heightened risk aversion in the market.

“In the

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Citigroup (C) shares advanced slightly on Friday after the financial services firm said it would sell its Japanese domestic securities business for 774.5 billion yen ($7.9 billion) in cash.

"We will continue to look for additional opportunities to maximize the value of businesses and assets as we rationalize and restructure Citi," Citi Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said. While the sale of Nikko Cordial Securities to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. would strengthen Citi's balance sheet, it would also mark the end of its dreams of expanding into the world's second-largest economy.

According to news sources, initial results from the Fed's capital stress tests indicate that the banking giant may need to raise more capital. The Nikko Cordial deal is expected to generate around $2.5 billion of tangible common equity and lift Citi's Tier-1 capital ratio by almost 27 basis points.

Citi had bought Nikko Cordial for

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Panasonic Corp. (PC), which is in the process of buying Sanyo Electric Co Ltd, has asked Sanyo investors to hold back part of their stake in an attempt to reduce the acquisition cost.

Daiwa Securities SMBC, which owns 29% of Sanyo, said on Tuesday that it has agreed to sell a 25% interest stake in the electronics manufacturer through a tender offer.

Earlier in December, Panasonic had agreed to purchase all the Sanyo shares from its three investors in a tender offer. Daiwa Securities SMBC Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. have a stake of about 70% in Sanyo through preferred shares.

Shares of the Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") company were up 1% in the afternoon trade.

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