Mazda to buy 10 pct of own shares in Ford sale-paper

TOKYO Oct 23 (Reuters) - Japan's Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T) is planning to buy back half of its own shares to be sold by Ford Motor Co (F.N), Asahi newspaper reported on Thursday.

Cash-strapped Ford, which has a 33.4 percent stake in the Japanese automaker, will likely to sell about 20 percent, the paper said. Mazda wants to buy half, and some 10 firms will buy the other half, it said.

Media have said likely buyers include financial institutions such as Tokio Marine Holdings (8766.T) and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings (8725.T), and others such as trading house Sumitomo Corp (8053.T) and parts maker Denso Corp (6902.T). (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka)