Denso: Toyota group to sell Denso stake, as components maker looks to buy back shares

TOKYO : Toyota Motor and two affiliates will sell a total of 256,373,400 shares in auto components maker Denso in a sale worth 589.1 billion yen ($4 billion) at Wednesday’s closing share price.

In a separate statement, Denso said it would buy back some 125 million shares, as it looks to offset the market impact of the sale. The other sellers are sister companies Toyota Industries and Aisin, Denso said.

Denso shares closed up 0.9 per cent on Wednesday, having lost 4.9 per cent a day earlier after Reuters first reported the news.

Toyota, the world’s top-selling automaker, is looking to cash in on stakes in affiliates as it ramps up development and production of fully electric vehicles.

Japanese companies traditionally took stakes in affiliates and business partners – a practice known as cross-shareholding – but have been under pressure to unwind those holdings to improve their use of capital.

($1 = 147.2400 yen)