Japan’s SMBC raises stake in Jefferies to 20%

(Reuters) – Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, the banking arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, will invest a further 135 billion yen ($912.84 million) in U.S. investment bank Jefferies, the companies said in a statement on Friday.

The investment will take SMBC’s stake to 20% from 14.5%, and the two companies will also set up a joint venture in Japan to consolidate their wholesale Japanese equities businesses, the statement said.

SMBC will provide Jefferies with about $2.5 billion of new credit facilities, the statement added.

SMFG, Japan’s second largest banking group, started working with Jefferies in 2021 on cross-border mergers and acquisitions and leveraged finance. It first took a stake in 2023, and has since raised it multiple times.

(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru and Anton Bridge in Tokyo;Editing by Kirsten Donovan)