Toyota Industries to accept Toyota group offer, Kyodo says

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TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Industries Corp plans to accept a tender offer by Toyota Motor Corp, the automaker’s Chairman Akio Toyoda and others, and is making arrangements to announce its intention as early as May, Kyodo news agency reported on Monday.

Both Toyota Motor and auto parts supplier Toyota Industries declined to comment on the report, saying that neither had made any announcement.

“We are always examining the optimal approach regarding our holdings in Toyota Group shares, but currently no decisions have been made,” a Toyota statement said.

The Nikkei business daily later reported that Toyota and its group companies are considering borrowing up to 3 trillion yen ($21 billion) from financial institutions to fund the planned acquisition.

A Toyota spokesperson said the company cannot offer any additional comment on top of its statement issued after the Kyodo report.

Bloomberg News reported last month that Toyota Motor Chairman Toyoda had proposed the potential acquisition of supplier Toyota Industries in a possible 6 trillion yen deal.

Following the Bloomberg report, Toyota said it was considering a potential buyout of the parts supplier in a deal that could transform Japan’s most influential corporate group.

($1 = 144.8900 yen)

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink, Maki Shiraki, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kantaro KomiyaEditing by David Goodman)