If somebody wants a billion dollar cheque, we can do it: Yasuhiro Kubota, Asia Pacific Co-CEO, Mizuho Bank
Mizuho Bank, Japan’s third-largest ‘megabank’ with close to $2 trillion in assets, made its biggest bet in India with a Rs 4,100-crore capital infusion in November and followed it up with a Rs 1,200-crore investment in NBFC Credit Saison. Asia Pacific co-CEO Yasuhiro Kubota explains to Joel Rebello why India is important for the Japanese lender and how it plans to expand the business here. Edited excerpts.
You infused Rs 4,100 crore ($500 million) capital into India in November – Mizuho’s largest here to date. What does that allow you to do that you couldn't do before?
We want to create a lending capacity to be able to support our local book. It's a commitment to the market that we have enough capacity to grow. The $500 million is just the first tranche. We want to do large ticket acquisition financing around our customers, like a loan against shares or what we call promoter financing in India. We had the capabilities in the region but not India. Now, we are developing these capabilities in the country. If somebody wants to acquire a company and they are looking for a billion-dollar cheque, I can say with great confidence that we can do it.
Earlier, banks like us could go to a $50 million to $100 million dollars per transaction. Our ability to lend is also greater now because of our understanding of the Indian market, and transaction structure along with capital. The mandate is to double the business by 2026.
Given the competition, what are you bringing to the table that is different for even, say, Japanese
