Toyota, affilites to offload some $1 billion in Aisin shares

By Daniel Leussink

TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor and two affiliates will sell 33.9 million shares in group supplier Aisin, the companies said on Thursday, a deal worth 177.5 billion yen ($1.11 billion) as of the latest stock price.

The other sellers are Denso and Toyota Industries (OTC:), Aisin said, adding the sale price has yet to be determined.

Toyota (NYSE:), the world’s top-selling automaker, said in a separate statement it will reduce its stake in Aisin to 20% from 24.8% of issued shares by selling about 13 million shares.

The latest sale follows a similar move in November when Toyota, Aisin and Toyota Industries decided to sell shares in Denso, an action that sparked investor hopes the automaker would shed more of its cross-shareholdings.

Toyota has been looking to cash in on stakes in affiliates as it steps up development and production of battery-powered vehicles. It intends to review its capital ties with other group companies on a one-by-one basis, it said in its statement.

As part of the sale, Denso and Toyota Industries will sell just under 13 million shares each through a secondary offering and Toyota about 7.9 million, Aisin said in a statement.

Toyota plans to sell another 5 million shares through the offering’s overallotment.

Aisin said in separate statements it would buy back some 17 million shares, a move that could help offset the market impact of the sale, and conduct a 3-1 stock split later this year.

   Japanese companies traditionally took stakes in affiliates and business partners – a practice known as cross-shareholding – but have been under pressure to unwind those holdings to improve their use of capital.

($1 = 160.4500 yen)