I was hoping that a bidding war for Nikko Cordial (NIKOY/OTC) would break out between Citigroup and Mizuho Financial. That looks much less likely today, according to reports such as this one from Bloomberg:
Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan's second-largest bank, scrapped a plan to acquire Nikko Cordial Corp. and will instead seek an alliance with rival bidder Citigroup Inc., two company officials said.
Not getting into a bidding competition makes sense -- Citigroup and Mizuho have things to offer each other. But, hey, I own some Nikko and having two outfits competing for my ADRs increases the chances of getting a better price. :-)
Anything could still happen and I just know what I read in the press. My hunch is that Citigroup will probably go the route of boosting its stake in Nikko, as opposed to making a bid for the whole company.
Then again, Nikko's share price has largely recovered. The ADRs aren't in the teens like they were several months ago (when I posted that I sold one-third of the position). But they're mostly back over $10, where they were before the accounting scandal broke. Who knows? Maybe in the end all of this stuff has just been noise.
The type of noise that threatens delisting from a major stock exchange, that leads to executives being fired, sparks talk of takeovers and gives shareholders one heck of a roller coaster ride. But in terms of the ultimate share price, noise nonetheless.
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