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Japan banks set to invest in U.S. rivals: report
LONDON (Reuters) - Japan's three biggest banks are preparing to invest as much as $10 billion in U.S. and European banks hit by the deepening sub-prime housing turmoil, Britain's Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The Times said senior sources at the three banks -- Mitsubishi UFJ (8306.T), Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Group (SMFG) (8316.T) and Mizuho Financial (8411.T) -- told the newspaper they had readied a combined $10 billion and were open to talks with any bank that approached them for a cash infusion.
Mizuho said on Tuesday it would invest $1.2 billion in Merrill Lynch MER.N as part of a $6.6 billion cash injection from a consortium.
One MUJF insider told the paper that his firm was planning to compete directly with Asian sovereign wealth funds as a long-term investor in troubled U.S. banks. Japanese banks were flush with cash and wanted to raise their return on capital, the report said.
(Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by Quentin Bryar)
