Reply #14: Lone Star back as top shareholder of Tokyo Star: sources [View All]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/23/us-lone-star-advantage-partners-idUSTRE74M16X20110523

(Reuters) - U.S. investment fund Lone Star will become the top shareholder in Tokyo Star Bank when Japanese private equity firm Advantage Partners relinquishes ownership due to trouble repaying debt, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The transaction will bring Tokyo Star back under the umbrella of Lone Star, which had taken the mid-sized lender public in 2005 and sold its remaining stake to Advantage Partners in 2008 near the height of a leveraged buyout boom.

Tokyo Star, which provides loans to individuals and small businesses in Tokyo, has struggled to carve out a profitable niche for itself in Japan's overcrowded banking sector. It posted a net loss of 2.8 billion yen ($34.3 million) in the past business year.

Advantage Partners has agreed to hand over all its shares in Tokyo Star, which it owns through a special purpose company, to lenders in return for not having to repay loans extended for its 280 billion yen purchase of the bank, the people said.