TOKYO/NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) – Private equity firm
Blackstone Group LP (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is close to finalising the purchase of
property loans with a face value of around $1.1 billion owned by
Morgan Stanley’s (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Japanese operations, three sources
familiar with the situation said.

The deal would mark Blackstone’s first investment in Japan
and could help breathe life into the world’s second-biggest real
estate market which has yet to see a major investment since the
since the onset of the global financial crisis.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Mori Building Co, Japan’s biggest unlisted property developer, plans to raise some $560 million this financial year by selling properties and seeking investors, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

To accelerate its property development and investment at home and in China, Mori Building is already in talks with some Chinese investors about potential investment in its projects, said Tsutomu Horiuchi, Mori’s chief financial officer and senior managing director.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Gakuto Ogata, 32, who has been dumped by a few girlfriends because of his penchant for debt, is one of an estimated 9.6 million Japanese who may face trouble getting loans due to new lending regulations.

But it’s not only spendthrifts who will feel the pain.

Smaller businesses and sole proprietorships, whose owners take out personal loans to finance their businesses, could also be badly hurt, further depressing an already weak economy.

TOKYO, June 16 (Reuters) – The president of Japanese consumer lender Promise Co (8574.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday that Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (8316.T: Quote, Profile, Research) has pledged to help with its financing, including loan rollovers.

Ken Kubo also said he is confident his firm will be able to repay 460 billion yen ($5 billion) in short-term debt this financial year, ending next March.

TOKYO, June 15 (Reuters) – Japan’s ailing consumer lenders
are unlikely to see a turnaround until around 2014 or 2015, and
even then a recovery would depend on regulations being eased, the
chairman of an industry body said on Tuesday.

Without such an easing the industry may not even survive
until then, Iwao Iijima, chairman of the Japan Financial Services
Association and a former chairman of consumer credit firm Orient
Corp (8585.T: Quote, Profile, Research), told a news conference.

TOKYO, June 14 (Reuters) – Acom Co (8572.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Japan’s largest consumer lender by market value, aims to double its overseas profit in three to four years and is mulling entering markets in China and Vietnam, its CEO said on Monday.

Acom and rivals such as Promise Co (8574.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Takefuji Corp (8564.T: Quote, Profile, Research), which offer unsecured personal loans to individuals and companies including those turned down by banks, have been struggling to find a business strategy that will generate steady profits after a government crackdown in recent years on their lending practices.

TOKYO, May 18 (Reuters) – Shares of Japanese property
developers Mitsui Fudosan Co <8801.T> and Mitsubishi Estate Co
<8802.T> have underperformed since the start of the month in
the wake of earnings results and forecasts for modest profit
growth in the current year. [ID:nTOE63R04R]

Investors are unsure if the property market, which has
bottomed but not yet staged a convincing recovery, will
continue to improve or have a double-dip going into 2011 and
2012.

TOKYO (Reuters) – It all began with a penicillin jab in his backside as a teenager.

Masafumi Nogimori saw first-hand how drugs were effective against infection, and so began a life-long love affair with the pharmaceuticals industry that has taken the 62-year-old CEO of Japan’s Astellas Pharma Inc <4503.T> into its biggest takeover deal.

TOKYO, April 30 (Reuters) – Mitsubishi Estate Co <8802.T>,
Japan’s second-largest property developer, said quarterly profit
almost doubled and forecast larger-than-expected earnings this
year, propelling its shares 5 percent higher.

Bigger rival Mitsui Fudosan <8801.T> projected a small
annual profit increase on a recovery in residential property
prices but the forecast fell short of market expectations.

TOKYO (Reuters) – All Nippon Airways Co, headed for a $693 million loss in the just-ended financial year, said its profitability has started to bounce back thanks to a recovery in travel demand, particularly in the high-margin business class segment.

The airline, Japan’s second-biggest by revenue, is also considering starting a low-cost carrier, its president said, eyeing growing demand among budget travelers.