Japan's Sumitomo Trust & Banking is likely to apply for a court injunction to halt talks between UFJ Holdings Inc and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group (MTFG) on merging their trust banking units, Japanese media reported on Sunday.
Quoting sources familiar with the matter, the Nihon Keizai newspaper (Nikkei) said Sumitomo had tentatively decided to file a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court, seeking a court order to halt the merger negotiations.
If the court does not grant the injunction, Sumitomo could sue UFJ and its top officials for tens of billions of yen in compensation, the Nikkei said.
UFJ, Japan's fourth-largest bank, in July cancelled the sale of its trust unit to Sumitomo to pursue a rescue merger with MTFG, the nation's second-biggest bank - a deal that would create the world's biggest banking group.
Sumitomo had sought a provisional injunction in mid-July to halt part of the merger talks between UFJ and MTFG.
The Supreme Court rejected the application in late August on the grounds that Sumitomo was unlikely to suffer serious damage even if it failed to win the injunction.