Japan Consumer Lender Stocks Jump, Led by Acom; Developers Fall

By Masaki Kondo

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's consumer lenders gained after a newspaper report boosted speculation banks will raise their stakes in the companies. Developers tumbled on concern bankruptcies in the industry will spread.

Acom Co., Japan's largest consumer lender, jumped the most in nine months after the Mainichi newspaper said Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. will buy its shares. Promise Co., a lender that's a fifth owned by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., jumped 4.5 percent. Canon Inc., the nation's biggest office- equipment maker, sank 4.2 percent after rival Ricoh Co. agreed to buy a U.S. distributor. Mitsubishi Estate Co., Japan's second biggest developer, extended its drop to a third day.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 27.17, or 0.2 percent, to 12,780.13 as of 9:41 a.m. in Tokyo. The broader Topix index retreated 1.96, or 0.2 percent, to 1,221.73. Almost two stocks fell for each that rose on the Topix.

Mitsubishi UFJ, the nation's biggest publicly traded bank, will spend 140 billion yen ($1.28 billion) to lift its stake in Acom to 40 percent from 15 percent to expand its retail business, the Mainichi said today, without saying where it obtained the information. Acom said nothing has been decided.

Acom surged 9.9 percent to 3,120 yen, set for the sharpest advance since Nov. 6, while Mitsubishi UFJ edged up 0.5 percent to 821 yen. Promise climbed 4.5 percent to 2,435 yen, while Takefuji Corp. rose 2.5 percent to 1,452 yen. Consumer lenders posted the biggest gain among 33 industry groups on the Topix.

Ricoh, Japan's second-largest maker of office machines, agreed to buy Ikon Office Solutions Inc. for $1.62 billion in cash, the Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company said yesterday.

`Negative' for Canon

``We take a positive view of the dealer acquisition as a basic strategy for expanding the copier business,'' Yoshitsugu Yamamoto, an analyst for UBS AG, wrote in a report dated today. ``Canon is now at risk of losing half of its copier sales in North America.''

Canon tumbled 4.2 percent to 4,840 yen, set for the sharpest drop since July 25. Ricoh leapt 6 percent to 1,830 yen, headed for the biggest gain since March 19.

Mitsubishi Estate dropped 1.5 percent to 2,340 yen, while Mitsui Fudosan Co., Japan's largest real-estate company, lost 2 percent to 2,250 yen. Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., the third biggest, slumped 1.6 percent to 2,145 yen. Developers were the biggest losers among Topix groups.

``A grave atmosphere lingers among investors as bankruptcies among smaller real estate companies are continuing,'' Mitsushige Akino, who oversees the equivalent of $468 million at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. in Tokyo, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Nikkei futures expiring in September added 0.2 percent to 12,800 in Osaka and were unchanged at 12,800 in Singapore.

To contact the reporter for this story: Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net.