Keio University in Tokyo has postponed a plan to build a new school after investment losses sapped its finances.
Keio, Japan's oldest college and whose graduates include former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda, will delay construction of an elementary and junior high school because of a "change in financial conditions," it said on its Web site.
Waseda University, another training ground in Tokyo for politicians and corporate leaders, has also warned of investment losses. In the U.S., Yale University and Harvard University are delaying expansion plans and cutting costs after the global financial crisis eroded their endowments.
"We are now considering the new target for the opening on the premise that we will start working as quickly as possible," Keio said in the statement posted Tuesday. The university, which originally intended to open the school south of Tokyo in April 2011, didn't provide a new target date.
The 150-year-old college had ¥231.9 billion in revenue for the year that ended March 31, compared with ¥262.1 billion in the previous 12 months, it said in May. It booked ¥36.6 billion in unrealized losses on its investments, including stocks, bonds, investment trusts and swap and derivative products.
Keio and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed last month to team up to provide business and management education to female entrepreneurs in emerging countries. Masanori Mochida, Goldman Sachs's Japan President, is a Keio graduate.