The Tokyo District Court has approved a rehabilitation plan submitted by Nippon Asset Management Inc. pledging to repay roughly 30 percent of its debts in five years.
Nippon Asset, formerly Japan Leasing Co., a former affiliate of the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, has liabilities of 1.6 trillion yen. It plans to reimburse 500 billion yen.
Creditors and other interested parties agreed to the plan drawn up under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law in a meeting held Monday.
The approval allows General Motors Acceptance Corp., the financial unit of General Motors Corp., to set up a new firm to take over Nippon Asset's operations April 1. The two sides have already begun takeover negotiations.
GMAC is one of the world's leading nonbank financial concerns.
Large creditor banks to Nippon Asset that will relinquish part of their claims under the plan include Mitsubishi Trust & Banking Corp. and Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co.
Mitsubishi Trust will give up 80.6 billion yen, and Sumitomo Trust 73.6 billion yen. Reserve funds have already been built up against the losses, so their earnings results will not be affected for the fiscal year ending in March, officials at the banks said.
In September 1998, Japan Leasing, one of the three nonbank affiliates of LTCB, filed for rehabilitation under court protection shortly before LTCB was put under state control. The rehabilitation began in November.
Its leasing operations were acquired in March by GE Capital Corp., a unit of General Electric Co.
Japan Leasing changed its name to Nippon Asset and retained control of its real estate rental and financing business.