ChinaWealthFundsinJapan.docVIP

Chinas Stealth Investments in Japan By  HYPERLINK /search/term.html?KEYWORDS=ATSUKO+FUKASEbylinesearch=true ATSUKO FUKASE TOKYO—Chinas government-wealth investors last year more than doubled their investments in major Japanese blue-chip companies, with combined stakes totaling more than 1.6 trillion yen ($19.4 billion), according to investment-advisory firms and people familiar with the matter.? The stakes—purchased mostly through obscurely named, Australian-registered investment vehicles—appear to be passive, with investors silent on matters of corporate strategy and management. But they highlight Chinas growing financial clout as well as the growing economic ties between China and Japan. The moves also come at a time when Chinas economy has just eclipsed Japans as the worlds second-biggest after the U.S. Between April and September, a shareholder by the name of SSBT OD05 Omnibus Account Treaty Clients?appeared on the top?10?shareholder registry of major Japanese companies including  HYPERLINK /public/quotes/main.html?type=djnsymbol=6502.TO Toshiba Corp.,  HYPERLINK /public/quotes/main.html?type=djnsymbol=4911.TO Shiseido Co.,  HYPERLINK /public/quotes/main.html?type=djnsymbol=2503.TO Kirin Holdings,  HYPERLINK /public/quotes/main.html?type=djnsymbol=9501.TO Tokyo Electric Power Co. The shareholder hadnt been among the top 10 six months earlier.? Other companies show a similarly named fund as a shareholder:  HYPERLINK /public/quotes/main.html?type=djnsymbol=SNE Sony Corp. and??top Japanese banks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.,? HYPERLINK /public/quotes/main.html?type=djnsymbol=MFG Mizuho Financial Group Inc.?and  HYPERLINK /public/quotes/main.html?type=djnsymbol=SMFG Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.?? Since the stakes fall below the 5% level that requires greater disclosure under Japanese securities laws, the companies know little about the investors, which use vehicles registered at State Street Bank Trust in Sydney, a unit of U