Yamato Seimei Goes Bust

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]Bloomberg: Yamato Life Files for Bankruptcy, Citing Investments
Yamato Life Insurance Co., a Japanese insurer, filed for court protection from creditors in the nation's first bankruptcy in the industry in seven years, with debt exceeding assets by 11.5 billion yen. A decline in the value of securities holdings widened losses at the Tokyo-based company, whose debts total 269.5 billion yen, Yamato Life said at a press briefing in Tokyo...The collapse of closely held Yamato is the eighth by a Japanese life insurer since World War II, according to Teikoku Databank Ltd...The firm had shifted its assets to alternative investments, which accounted for about 30 percent of the total portfolio as of the end of September, to boost returns. The move ended up hurting the company as the global market collapsed..more...

Tokyo residents may not have had any dealings with the company but many will have seen its office building next door to the Imperial Hotel.

[Mulboyne]

[Behan]

[Mulboyne]

IHT: Prudential to acquire failed Japan insurer

The Prudential Insurance Co. of America has been selected to acquire a Japanese insurance company that went bankrupt last year, a news report said Friday. Yamato Life Insurance Co. went bankrupt in October and has been under court-appointed supervision since then. A bid from Prudential to acquire the company has been accepted, Kyodo News service said, citing unidentified sources. Yamato, one of Japan's smaller life insurance companies, lost 269 billion yen ($2.7 billion) from stock holdings and was 11 billion yen ($111 million) in the red when it went under, Kyodo said. While some Japanese financial companies booked deep losses as a result of the global financial crisis, the country has largely avoided the large-scale bankruptcies that have occurred in the U.S. and Europe.