Japan

Japanese equity funds posted their biggest net outflow since 2001 as investors regained their taste for risk assets in the past week and directed cash to emerging market equities and junk bonds, the Financial Times reported. The moves come as fears of a trade war eased and investors instead expressed optimism about strong earnings growth for US companies, which have begun reporting results for the first three months of the year.

Three bidders, including two new players, have submitted resolution plans after lenders called for fresh bids in Essar Steel Ltd.’s insolvency process, Bloomberg News reported. These include a joint venture between ArcelorMittal India and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp, Nu Metal & Steel Pvt. Ltd, in which JSW Steel is an investor, and the Vedanta Group, according to two people in the know who spoke to BloombergQuint on the condition of anonymity. Of the three, ArcelorMittal-Suitomo JV had participated in the earlier bidding as well.

Toshiba’s $18bn sale of its prized memory chip business as it struggles to survive a financial crisis has shattered a long-standing taboo of corporate Japan, prompting companies to consider sales of assets once thought sacred. The cultural change, say M&A bankers, is poised to produce a rapid acceleration of asset sales, as private equity buys more deeply into the Japanese market and as corporate chiefs stop feeling they are losing face by divesting businesses or stakes that are no longer worth keeping, the Financial Times reported.

Westinghouse Electric Co LLC, Toshiba Corp's nuclear services business, has made an agreement with its creditors that will clear the company's path out of bankruptcy, according to three people familiar with the matter. The deal will divvy up cash from the $4.6 billion proposed sale of Westinghouse to Brookfield Business Partners, an affiliate of Canada's Brookfield Asset Management, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

The Japanese economy is picking up more and moving toward the central bank’s 2 percent inflation target, though only gradually, government data released today showed, the Wall Street Journal reported. The core consumer-price index, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose 0.9 percent in November from a year earlier, a slightly faster pace than an 0.8 percent increase in October. Another index used by the central bank to assess the state of inflation, which excludes both fresh food and energy, rose 0.3 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 0.2 percent rise in October.

Japan’s JFE Holdings Inc and India’s JSW Steel Ltd are lining up a joint bid with a private equity firm for the assets of India’s insolvent Bhushan Steel Ltd, two industry sources familiar with the matter said. Under the plans, JFE would set up a special purpose vehicle with the two partners to manage the assets, Reuters reported. JFE would hold a majority stake in the vehicle, while JSW Steel would operate Bhushan Steel’s plants, said the sources who did not want to be named as the details are not public. JFE already owns a 15 percent stake in JSW.

Toshiba Corp.’s plan to raise more money may bring in vocal investors more willing to take an active role in the electronics maker’s affairs, Bloomberg News reported. David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, Daniel Loeb’s Third Point and other investors have agreed to buy 600 billion yen ($5.4 billion) worth of newly issued shares, an extra cushion of cash on top of the already-agreed 2 trillion-yen sale of the Tokyo-based company’s chips business to a group led by Bain Capital.

To solve the Mt. Gox bankruptcy mess, its former chief executive says he is exploring a dramatic solution – reviving the exchange so it can start generating money again, Reuters reported. Mark Karpeles told Reuters he believes Mt. Gox, which collapsed in 2014, could be resurrected under new management and ownership – at a cost of $245 million. He said he would have no role and would only receive “money for required expenses, mostly legal.” Karpeles is currently on trial in Japan, accused of embezzling money from Mt. Gox and manipulating its data, as well as breach of trust.

Toshiba Corp. plans to raise ¥600 billion ($5.3 billion) through a new share offering if a ¥2 trillion deal to sell its chip unit doesn’t get on track to meet an end-of-March deadline, a person familiar with the matter said. The plan fits into Toshiba’s effort to recover from the financial blow it suffered when its U.S. nuclear unit, Westinghouse Electric Co., filed for bankruptcy protection in March, The Wall Street Journal reported. Toshiba’s shareholder equity stood at negative ¥619.8 billion as of Sept.

Japan’s Toshiba Corp said on Thursday it is buying back a 10 percent stake in Westinghouse Electric Co from minority shareholder Kazatomprom for 59 billion yen ($522 million), taking full ownership of the bankrupt U.S. unit, Reuters reported. The move comes as Westinghouse is exploring selling itself, with a deal likely valuing it at close to $4 billion, Reuters reported last week, quoting people familiar with the matter. Private equity firms Blackstone Group and Apollo Global Management have teamed up to bid for Westinghouse, the sources said.