JAPAN NEWS




 

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. said Friday that it will acquire Japanese robo-advisory firm WealthNavi Inc. to reinforce its asset management services for individual customers.

MUFG Bank, a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, will launch a tender offer on Monday to buy WealthNavi shares at ¥1,950 per share. The acquisition is expected to cost about ¥99.6 billion.

On Friday, WealthNavi announced its support for the tender offer. The company is expected to be delisted as early as March next year. CEO Kazuhisa Shibayama is expected to stay on for the time being.

In March, MUFG Bank took a stake of over 15% in WealthNavi and made it an equity-method affiliate. It now plans to acquire all WealthNavi shares and make it a wholly owned subsidiary.

The Mitsubishi UFJ group plans to use WealthNavi to expand services that offer financial products via smartphone apps.

A robo-adviser provides automated investment recommendations tailored to specific customer needs.

As of the end of October, WealthNavi had ¥1,338.6 billion  in customer assets under management.