New holders of Mazda shares mostly decided

Ford Motor Co. has found buyers for most its shares in Mazda Motor Corp., including a regional bank in the Japanese car maker’s hometown, a media report said Wednesday.

Hiroshima Bank is offering to buy a stake of up to 5 percent in Mazda, becoming the latest company to voice an interest in becoming a shareholder of Japan’s fourth-biggest automaker, Kyodo News agency reported, citing unidentified officials close to the deal.

Japanese media have reported since earlier this month that money-losing Ford was considering selling most of its one-third stake in the Hiroshima-based automaker but would keep some shares and management ties.

Selling shares of Mazda, which makes the RX-8 sports car and Miata roadster, would furnish Ford with cash as it tries to turn around its business.

Ford has struggled with a sales slump in the U.S., burning through nearly US$11 billion of its cash stockpile in the past year. It reported its worst-ever quarterly loss of US$8.7 billion in the second quarter.

Mazda plans to purchase about half the shares Ford is to sell, while the Japanese automaker and its affiliates continued to look for buyers of the remainder, Kyodo said.

A purchase of a 5-percent stake in the company would cost Hiroshima Bank about 20 billion yen (US$200 million), Kyodo said, citing Tuesday’s closing of Mazda stock at 284 yen (US2.84 cents) per share on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The bank has 145 branches in Japan, with outstanding loans totaling 4.3 trillion yen (US$43 billion).

Officials at Mazda, Hiroshima Bank and Ford were not available for comment late Wednesday.

Auto parts maker Denso Corp. and five nonlife insurers — Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings Inc., Sompo Japan Insurance Inc., Aioi Insurance Co. and Nipponkoa Insurance Co. — have approached Mazda about possibly purchasing the shares held by Ford, Kyodo said.

Ford formed a capital alliance with Mazda in 1979, taking a 25 percent stake, and raising that to 33.4 percent in 1996 — a controlling share in Japan.

Over the last decade, Ford helped engineer a turnaround at once-struggling Mazda, sending executives and sharing technology and auto parts to cut costs.

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