Japan’s MUFG to start buying chips to ease burden of inventory strain – Nikkei

A man passes in front of a signboard for Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, the asset management unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. Japanese (MUFG), in Tokyo, Japan, July 31, 2017. REUTERS / Issei Kato

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei newspaper said on Tuesday that Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306T) will launch a new company that will temporarily buy companies’ stocks, including semiconductors, to ease financial pressure on them. .

The move comes as more companies are forced to keep larger stocks on hand to deal with ongoing disruptions in the global supply chain. But having to hold excess inventory carries risks, including potential cash flow issues.

The Nikkei said the main banking arm of Japan’s largest lender will launch MUFG Trading, which will temporarily hold the company’s inventory and sell it back as needed.

No one was immediately available for comment at MUFG.

She said the new company would make a profit from the difference in what it pays for inventory and what it sells to its customers for.

The paper said the bank expects stocks to be a range of commodities from semiconductors to corn.

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T) was initially one of the few automakers that was able to cope with a shortage of semiconductors due to a large stockpile of semiconductors, before it was forced to cut production this year.

(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama) Editing by David Dolan and Ed Osmond

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