The nation's largest Internet shopping mall operator has agreed to acquire online brokerage DLJdirect SFG Securities Inc. by the end of the year.
Rakuten Inc. said Friday it will pay about 30 billion yen to buy a 96.7 percent stake in DLJdirect from the brokerage's major shareholders, CSFBdirect Asia Holdings Inc., a unit of U.S. investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston Corp., and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking will continue to hold the remaining stake in the brokerage, Rakuten said.
DLJdirect, set up in March 1999, is a joint venture between Credit Suisse First Boston and the Sumitomo Mitsui group.