Treasury stock of Russian RusHydro worth $332Mln to be purchased by Japanese Mitsui

Sputnik
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 06:31 UTC

© RusHydro

Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co will purchase equivalent of 5 percent outstanding shares of Russia's RusHydro hydroelectricity company for 21.7 billion rubles ($332 million at the current exchange rates, Japanese media reported Wednesday.

Mitsui & Co is expected join the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) in the deal on purchase of treasury stock, to the Nikkei Asian Review newspaper reported.

The media outlet added that this sale of shares would be the first sale of the company's treasury stock to the foreign company.

According to the newspaper, the companies are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding at the upcoming a memorandum of understanding.

The 2016 Eastern Economic Forum will be held in Vladivostok on September 2-3. The upcoming forum is expected to attract some 2,500 participants, including those from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Vietnam, Australia, the United States and Singapore. More than 130 agreements valued at around $15.4 billion are expected to be signed at the forum.

Comment: Looks like Japan is slowly and smartly seeing that good economic relations with Russia - despite the imperial dictates of the U.S. - is a 'win-win'.

• Japan plans 'economic cooperation' with Russia despite lack of progress on Kuril Islands dispute
• Abe ignores Obama by going to Russia for access to energy sources
• Russia and Japan agree on boosting trade: Creating the 'green corridor'
• Japan turns down Merkel's NATO offer because it would 'negatively affect our relations with Russia'
• Japan hesitates: Puts Russian sanctions on hold in view of possible FM talks

Moving in this direction, Japan is creating a special "Minister of Economic Relations with Russia" post, reported to be staffed by Hiroshige Seko, current Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. Interesting move!

Enhanced cooperation

In May this year during a meeting of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, they agreed on the implementation of large-scale bilateral economic projects. In particular, these envisage the development of joint infrastructure projects in the Russian Far East - ports, hospitals, as well as a gas processing plant. They also include projects in the field of small and medium industry, energy, high technology, and nuclear industry.

HideGeo-economics as the geopolitics

Economic cooperation has a political dimension. Japan is concerned about complaints that China is a regional hegemon in the Pacific. The Japanese perspective is that the Chinese claim to occupy the highest place in the regional hierarchy is not justified. Therefore, Japan would like to enlist Russia's support in its disputes with China. Russia, in turn, is interested in that, creating mutually beneficial and close relations with Japan, not to depend on China as their sole partner in the Pacific Ocean and contribute to a more independent course of Japan from the United States.