Investors Set To Raise Rakuten Securities’ Stake By $597 Million Investment Thursday

<h4>Investors Set To Raise Rakuten<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> has reliably gathered that Japan&&num;8217&semi;s Mizuho Financial Group is concluding plans to increase its stake in online brokerage Rakuten Securities to nearly 50&percnt; with an expected investment of about 90 billion yen &lpar;&dollar;597 million&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The fresh injection of capital comes after the banking group bought a roughly 20&percnt; stake in Tokyo-based Rakuten Securities for about 80 billion yen last year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Tech-focused parent Rakuten Group seeks to raise about 100 billion yen by listing the brokerage&comma; with the funds to be invested in the group&&num;8217&semi;s mobile business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But Rakuten Securities&&num;8217&semi; decision to start offering zero-commission trades for Japanese stocks in October has complicated the roadshow for the initial public offering&comma; which the group had aimed to complete by the end of the year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The brokerage caters to retail investors&comma; and commissions make up a big share of its revenue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Competition among online brokers is heating up as the young investors that mostly use these platforms take a greater interest in how their money is managed amid high inflation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The additional investment will be announced Thursday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Factoring into the move is the stalled listing of Rakuten Securities Holdings&comma; which is wholly owned by Rakuten Group&period; Rakuten Securities Holdings applied for an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in July&period;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sources familiar with the IPO plans said at the time that the listing was expected to take place this year&period; Then in August&comma; Japan&&num;8217&semi;s biggest online brokerage&comma; SBI Securities&comma; decided to offer zero-commission Japanese stock trades&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rakuten Securities soon followed suit&comma; in a bid to prevent its largest rival from pulling further ahead&period; As of the end of March&comma; SBI Securities had roughly 10 million brokerage accounts to Rakuten Securities&&num;8217&semi; 9 million&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Commissions on Japan stock trades account for almost a fifth of Rakuten Securities&&num;8217&semi; operating revenue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As Rakuten was preparing to list the holding company&comma; there was apparently a strong pushback from investors wanting time to see the earnings impact of slashing commissions to zero&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Market volatility stemming from higher interest rates was also a factor in a decision to hold off on the IPO this year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rakuten Group has posted consolidated net losses for four straight years through 2022 owing to heavy capital spending in its mobile business&period; For the first half of this year&comma; the group reported a loss of 139&period;9 billion yen&comma; posing the risk of a fifth year of red ink&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Roughly 800 billion yen of corporate bonds will come due from next year to 2025&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the fresh capital from Mizuho is close to the amount that Rakuten seeks to raise through the IPO&comma; plans for the listing appear to remain on the table&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mizuho subsidiary Mizuho Securities bought the stake in Rakuten Securities and counts the company as an equity-method affiliate&period; The status is not expected to change after the additional investment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mizuho is partnering with Rakuten Securities to attract new customers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Last month&comma; Mizuho Securities and Rakuten Securities announced a joint-venture company that will start offering in-person financial advice early next year for customers who use Rakuten Securities&&num;8217&semi; online trading platform&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Investment from outside the finance industry has added to the competition&period; In October&comma; wireless carrier NTT Docomo upgraded online broker Monex into a subsidiary&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This move comes ahead of the start of Japan&&num;8217&semi;s new NISA tax-exempt individual saving account program next year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Content&comma; outside headline&comma; Nikkei<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;