Aozora talks exploratory for ANZ

ANZ has been exploring the purchase of Aozora Bank, The Daily Yomiuri reports. The Financial Review first reported speculation about the talks on Monday.

Were Aozora sold the principal vendor would be Cerberus Capital Management, a US investment fund with a 49 per cent stake purchased from Softbank in 2003.

Softbank was the cornerstone investor in a 1998 rescue of the bank, previously known as Nippon Credit Bank. The bank changed its name to Aozora in 2001.

The bank has undergone a number of shifts in strategy over the last 13 years, and during the financial crisis was a prominent unsecured creditor of Lehman Brothers.

For the last five years has been building a niche retail banking franchise.

Aozora Bank has around 5 trillion yen in assets at June 2011 and an annualised net profit of around 15 trillion yen.