Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, agreed to acquire a 9.9% stake in Aberdeen Asset Management, according to announcements today from both companies.
Mitsubishi has the option of doubling its stake to 19.9% and also agreed not to sell its initial holdings for a period of one year. Further terms of the deal were not available at press time.
Pending regulatory approval, the deal would give Mitsubishi exclusive rights to distribute Aberdeen’s products in Japan, which has more than $3 trillion in total pension assets, according to Aberdeen in its news release.
Aberdeen’s transaction with MUTB “accelerates a strategic objective of establishing ourselves in Japan, a key market for us,” Martin Gilbert, CEO of Aberdeen, said in a news release about the deal. He could not be reached for comment by press time.
Aberdeen has about £104 billion ($183 billion) in assets under management, while MUTB has $245 billion in assets under management.
The deal is the second this week for Mitsubishi UFJ; on Sept. 29, the bank agreed to purchase a 21% stake in Morgan Stanley for $9 billion.
