Japan’s Mizuho Bank buys $145 mn stake in Credit Saison India

Japan’s Mizuho Bank, along with its subsidiary, has acquired a 15% stake in Credit Saison India, the local arm of Japanese credit card issuer Credit Saison, for ₹1,200 crore, or $144 million.

Nikkei had first reported about the impending deal last week.

Credit Saison India, an online lending platform that caters to individuals and small businesses, is registered under Kisetsu Saison Finance India Pvt. Ltd.

Kisetsu Saison aims to grow into a top 10 non-banking financial company in India by leveraging the strengths of both companies, the lending firm said in an investor presentation.

Mizuho Bank said it will appoint a director to Credit Saison India, and plans to make it an equity method affiliate, signaling that it will record its share of Credit Saison India’s profits and losses in its own financial statements.

Meanwhile, Kisetsu Saison informed the Indian exchanges in a filing this week that the company’s board has okayed the appointment of Masaki Negishi as a director of the company.

Explaining its rationale for the investment, Mizuho Bank said the financial infrastructure in Asia is nascent and that it is focused on resolving such social issues while broadening its own business portfolio.

“This has led us to invest in M-Service in Vietnam, Tonik in the Philippines, and Kredivo in Indonesia. Following on from these, we have turned to exploring strategic investment in financial businesses in India, where there has been a rapid rise in needs for digital financial services,” the bank said in a statement.

Mizuho Bank is a Japanese investment and corporate bank listed on the Tokyo and New York stock exchanges and run by Mizuho Finance Group. It has  been present in India for about 25 years and has five branches: in Mumbai, Chennai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad.

Credit Saison is active in the lending business in emerging countries, and had set up its international headquarters in Singapore in 2021.

Since starting its services in India in 2019, Credit Saison has been offering financing to local non-bank financial companies and co-origination financing in partnership with fintech businesses. The company said it turned in a profit in fiscal 2020, in one year of operations, and had a loan balance of about $997.35 million as of September.