The sale will likely total around 3 trillion Yen ($19 billion) but could be larger depending on the willingness of shareholders to sell, the sources said. Toyota aims for the sale to happen as early as this year, although the timing and scale could change depending on shareholders, or the plan could be abandoned, one of the sources said.
Reuters is reporting Toyota’s preparations for the first time. Toyota declined to comment. The sources declined to be identified because the information is not public. Toyota’s shares extended gains following Reuters’ report.
They were up around 2% in early afternoon trade, outperforming the broader market. Toyota aims to acquire shares through buybacks, the sources said.
A secondary sale to other investors has also emerged as an option, one of the sources said. The move by the world’s largest automaker would be evidence of the scale of Japan’s on-going corporate governance reform.
Regulators and the Tokyo Stock Exchange have been encouraging Japanese companies to unwind their cross-shareholdings.
–Reuters–
