Japan Airline’s Largest Banks Said to Agree to Legal Bankruptcy

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. are prepared to go along with a proposed court-led reconstruction, said three people who declined to be identified because the matter is private. The state-owned Development Bank of Japan already agreed to the bankruptcy, a person said earlier.

Japan Air is seeking new investors and loan write-offs as it restructures after posting three losses in four years. The government will hold talks on JAL’s future as soon as Jan. 12, Transport Minister Seiji Maehara told reporters yesterday in Tokyo after meeting with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

Mizuho spokeswoman Masako Shiono, Mitsubishi UFJ spokesman Takashi Takeuchi and JAL spokeswoman Sze Hunn Yap declined to comment. Sumitomo Mitsui spokeswoman Chika Togawa wasn’t immediately available for comment and calls to the media relations office of the Ministry of Finance, which oversees Development Bank, went unanswered outside regular office hours