Aetos struggling to fund Daito Trust buy -sources

TOKYO, May 21 (Reuters) - A group led by U.S. investment firm Aetos Capital LLC is struggling to get funding to buy Japanese property developer Daito Trust Construction Co (1878.T), financial sources told Reuters.

Aetos earlier this year outbid Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and others to buy a 29.2 percent stake in the developer from the company's founder, Katsumi Tada.

The Aetos-led group also aims to buy all other shares in Daito Trust Construction, which has a market capitalisation of about 620 billion yen ($6 billion).

But banks are cautious about lending to the group, which includes real estate group Mori Trust Co and local private equity firm Unison Capital Inc, as lenders have been hurt by the credit crunch stemming from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, the sources said.

Daito Trust said it would pay a dividend of 180 yen per share for the year ended March 31 to improve shareholder value and would also aim to buy back 2.2 percent, or up to 2.76 million, of its own shares by March 2009. (Reporting by Emi Emoto; Writing by Junko Fujita; Editing by Hugh Lawson)