Japanese Bank Bid Suffers Setback

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s (ADR: MTU) $3 billion bid to obtain California’s UnionBanCal Corp. (UB) suffered a blow yesterday (Thursday) when a shareholder advisory committee determined the offer price was too low.

“The proposed price does not reflect the strength of UnionBanCal’s strong capital position, the superior credit quality of its assets, and its potential for profitable asset and core deposit growth in the current market environment,” Richard Farman, chairman of the special committee said, The Financial Times reported.

Soon after the $3 billion offer was announced, investors bid the share price higher. Shares closed at $65.46, yesterday, over $2 more than Mitsubishi’s…

Two Ways to Profit as China and Japan Quietly Forge the Most Powerful Trading Alliance in the World

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Yauo Fukuda met recently and signed some modest cooperation agreements. That doesn’t sound much to get excited about, until you consider how well the Chinese and Japanese economies fit together.

Think of it this way: With China’s boundless supply of low-cost labor and Japan’s superb education system – and an ability to work together that’s clearly founded on considerable commonality of thinking – these two countries, as a pair, will be world-beaters.

In fact, they’ll be world leaders.

The Past has Passed

The summit – while modest – marked an important policy change from the mutual…