(Source: Kyodo News International, Tokyo)

By Kyodo News International, Tokyo
Dec. 26--TOKYO -- Pacific Holdings Inc. said Friday that 10 Chinese property firms including Greentown China Holdings Ltd. will invest about 47 billion yen ($520 billion) to effectively obtain a controlling stake in the financially-strapped Japanese operator of real estate investment funds.
It would represent a rare case of Chinese capital entering the struggling Japanese real estate market as U.S. and European investment funds dwindle amid the global financial meltdown.
Pacific Holdings said it will raise the 47 billion yen through a third-party allotment of preferred shares to a Japanese-based firm called Zhongbai Japan Inc. that will be funded by a group of Chinese real estate firms. The deal came after talks for a capital alliance with Daiwa Securities Group Inc. broke down in late September.
If the preferred shares to be acquired are converted into common shares, it would represent about 90 percent of Pacific Holdings' voting rights in an effective handover of management authority to the Chinese group, a company official said.
The firm earlier said it expects to incur a group net loss of 25 billion yen for the business year that ended on Nov. 30 due to plummeting property prices and funding difficulties triggered by the worldwide financial crisis that have driven a series of small and midsized Japanese property developers into bankruptcy this year.
Its share price soared over 10 percent on Friday to close at 10,600 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange following a report on the possible infusion of Chinese capital.
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