TOKYO, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Daiwa Securities Group <8601.T>, Japan’s No. 2 brokerage, reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly profit as losses on trading and property erased part of the gain from the sale of its stake in Sanyo Electric.

Daiwa, which competes with Nomura Holdings <8604.T>, posted a 26.4 billion yen ($294 million) net profit for October-December, also helped by fees for managing a rush of share offerings by Japanese firms.

The result marked its third straight quarterly profit and a big improvement over the 53 billion yen loss a year earlier at the height of the financial crisis.

But it fell far short of market expectations. Three analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S forecast on average a profit of 54.2 billion yen.

TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital said on Monday it would acquire the Japan franchisee of Domino’s Pizza as it sees opportunities in the country’s niche pizza delivery market.

Bain Capital said in a statement that it would buy Japanese firm Higa Industries Co from Duskin Co, Daiwa SMBC Capital and Ernest Higa, the founder of Higa.

“In Japan pizza delivery is a niche business and home delivered pizza is treated as a specialty item so there is less price sensitivity,” David Gross-Loh, a managing director at Bain Capital in Tokyo told Reuters.

He said delivered pizza is priced higher in Japan than in the U.S. and that this boosts opportunities for the development of new products and marketing.

TOKYO, Jan 25 (Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital said on Monday it would acquire the Japan franchisee of Domino’s Pizza <DPZ.N> as it sees opportunities in the country’s niche pizza delivery market.

Bain Capital said in a statement that it would buy Japanese firm Higa Industries Co from Duskin Co <4665.T>, Daiwa SMBC Capital and Ernest Higa, the founder of Higa.

“In Japan pizza delivery is a niche business and home delivered pizza is treated as a specialty item so there is less price sensitivity,” David Gross-Loh, a managing director at Bain Capital in Tokyo told Reuters.

He said delivered pizza is priced higher in Japan than in the U.S. and that this boosts opportunities for the development of new products and marketing.

TOKYO, Dec 22 (Reuters) – The Tokyo Stock Exchange [TSE.UL] said it would relax rules on rights issues to make it easier for companies to use this method of fundraising by giving them more control over the dilutive impact of new issues.

The TSE said it would implement new rules this month allowing firms to offer shareholders partial options rather than only options to buy one share for each share held as currently required.

This will give companies the ability to limit the increase in the number of shares, TSE chief executive Atsushi Saito told a news conference.

Rights issues are very common outside Japan. Globally, $205 billion has been raised through rights issues this year, accounting for about a third of equity offerings, according to Thomson Reuters data.

TOKYO, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Capmark Financial Group Inc’s [CPFNG.UL] Japanese loan servicing unit is being sold to Elliott Management for 3.4 billion yen ($38 million), a U.S. fund management firm, which outbid Japan’s Orix <8591.T> and others, U.S. court documents show.

Elliott outbid to buy Capmark’s Japanese loan servicing business called Premier Asset Management, according to the documents, by beating Sandringham Capital Partners, a UK-based fund management firm which had agreed to buy Premier in October. [ID:nT215452]

The documents were filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the district of Delaware. Elliott’s office in Tokyo declined comment. An official at the company said the head of its Tokyo operations was travelling.

Capmark Financial Group filed for bankruptcy in October, becoming one of the largest victims of the plunge in commercial real estate. It has been selling assets, which also included its U.S. loan servicing unit. [ID:nN25163011]

TOKYO, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Japanese lender Shinsei Bank Ltd <8303.T> is close to finding a buyer for a building in central Tokyo in a roughly $1.6 billion deal, two sources with direct knowledge of the sale said.

Shinsei took control of Pacific Century Palace, a 32-story office building located next to Tokyo railway station, earlier this year from Davinci Holdings <4134.OJ> after the struggling property investment firm missed paying its loans on time.

Real estate fund manager Secured Capital Japan Co <2392.T> is seen as a strong contender to clinch the deal for about 140 billion yen ($1.6 billion), though it is still working on securing financing, according one of the two sources.

That would make it the largest real estate transaction in Japan since American International Group <AIG.N> agreed in May to sell its headquarters building in Tokyo to Nippon Life Insurance Co for 120 billion yen. [ID:nN11524886]

TOKYO, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Japanese lender Shinsei Bank Ltd <8303.T> is close to finding a buyer for a building in central Tokyo in a deal that could be worth $1.6 billion, two sources with direct knowledge of the sale said.

Shinsei took control of Pacific Century Palace, a 32-story office building located next to Tokyo railway station, earlier this year from Davinci Holdings <4134.OJ> after the struggling property investment firm missed paying its loans on time.

Real estate fund manager Secured Capital Japan Co <2392.T> is seen as a strong contender to clinch the deal for about 140 billion yen ($1.6 billion), though it is still working on securing financing, according one of the two sources.

U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group, railway operator East Japan Railway Co <9020.T> and property developers Mitsubishi Estate Co <8802.T> and Mitsui Fudosan Co <8801.T> also placed bids for the building, the sources said.

TOKYO, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Nomura Holdings Inc <8604.T>, Japan’s largest brokerage, said it has raised enough capital to survive expected global regulatory changes in the next few years after two share offerings this year.

Nomura is also expanding its U.S. operations further with the money raised from its most recent equity sale, Nomura Chief Operating Officer Takumi Shibata told reporters.

Nomura strengthened its capital by selling more than $7 billion of shares this year, boosting its tier 1 capital ratio to 17 percent or more, Shibata said.

The Japanese brokerage has raised capital to prepare well in advance for an expected global regulatory push for banks to have higher capital buffers to prevent another global financial crisis.

TOKYO, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Japanese consumer lender Takefuji Corp <8564.T>, said on Friday it would increase the size of a planned sale of straight bonds as it needs more money to cover the early redemption of convertible bonds.

Takefuji earlier this month said it would issue bonds to raise cash for the early redemption of 70 billion yen ($810.3 million) of convertible bonds it sold to UBS AG <UBSN.VX> last year.

The announcement of the debt exchange prompted two rating agencies to cut Takefuji’s credit ratings further into junk status, triggering a slide in its shares and a widening of credit default spreads.

The lender said on Nov. 16 that it was having difficulty raising money and decided to offer holders of the 2018 convertible bonds the option of exchanging their bonds for cash or a combination of cash and bonds maturing in 2011.

TOKYO, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Japanese consumer lender Takefuji Corp <8564.T>, said on Friday it would increase the size of a planned sale of straight bonds as it needs more money to cover the early redemption of convertible bonds.

Takefuji earlier this month said it would issue bonds to raise cash for the early redemption of 70 billion yen ($810.3 million) of convertible bonds it sold to UBS AG <UBSN.VX> last year.

The announcement of the debt exchange prompted two rating agencies to cut Takefuji’s credit ratings further into junk status, triggering a slide in its shares and a widening of credit default spreads.

The lender said on Nov. 16 that it was having difficulty raising money and decided to offer holders of the 2018 convertible bonds the option of exchanging their bonds for cash or a combination of cash and bonds maturing in 2011.