i Develop Stocks Advisory

Mitsubishi UFJ to Raise Stake in Singapore's Kim Eng Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. offered S$166.2 million ($118 million) to more than triple its stake in Kim Eng Holdings Ltd., sending the shares of Singapore's largest publicly traded brokerage soaring. Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co., a unit of Japan's biggest bank by market value, offered S$2.70 per Kim Eng share, 34 percent higher than yesterday's closing price, to raise its holding to 14.6 percent from 4 percent, according to a filing to the Singapore stock exchange. The offer comes as Mitsubishi UFJ increases investments in overseas banks and securities companies to bolster revenue as lending declines in Japan. The Tokyo-based firm and consumer lender Acom Co. said in November they plan to buy a 75.4 percent stake in Indonesia's PT Bank Nusantara Parahyangan. ``You will see Japanese banks going increasingly overseas, either through acquisitions or by organically growing their business,'' said Brett Hemsley, an analyst at HSBC Holdings Plc in Tokyo. ``Growth opportunities in Japan are limited, with anemic loan growth at best.'' Kim Eng climbed 10 percent to S$2.23 as of 10:08 a.m. in Singapore trading, after earlier rising as much as 20 percent. The shares were poised for their biggest gain since September 2003. Mitsubishi UFJ's shares fell 1.3 percent. Mitsubishi UFJ and Kim Eng will set up a venture to invest mainly in Asian equities and plan to distribute at least S$1 billion to Japanese investors within two years. Kim Eng is an investment holding company with subsidiaries offering stock brokerage and investment advisory services.