MUFG Bank to acquire robo-advisor WealthNavi for $662m

The bank is offering 1,950 yen per share.

MUFG Bank is acquiring all common shares of WealthNavi, a robo-advisor offering wealth management services, for over JPY99.67t (approximately $661.85m).

The bank is offering 1,950 yen per share. It had first offered 1,450 yen per share.

The price represents an 89.39% premium of WealthNavi’s closing price on 25 November 2024; and a 77.27% premium of its simple average closing price for the recent 1-month period.

MUFG has also entered into a tender offer for the 10.25 million shares held by WealthNavi’s representative director and largest shareholder, Kazuhisa Shibayama.

WealthNavi is a fully automated wealth management service operating in Japan. It targets working families with the goal of providing access to a global, diversified investment portfolio for their retirement.

WealthNavi has over JPY1.3t in assets under management as of 4 July 2024. It is reportedly the first-ranked domestic robo-advisor in Japan in terms of assets under management and number of users, the bank said.

(US$1 = JPY150.59; as of 2 December 2024, Google)