ML-Implode News - The "Tokyo Whale" Is Quietly Buying Up Huge Stakes in Japan Inc (AND REGULATORS WILL NEVER SHUT IT DOWN!)

They may not realize it yet, but Japan Inc.'s executives are increasingly working for a shareholder unlike any other: the nation's money-printing central bank. While the Bank of Japan's name is nowhere to be found in regulatory filings on major stock investors, the monetary authority's exchange-traded fund purchases have made it a top 10 shareholder in about 90 percent of the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg from public data. It's now a major owner of more Japanese blue-chips than both BlackRock Inc., the world's largest money manager, and Vanguard Group, which oversees more than $3 trillion.
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Under the BOJ's current stimulus plan, the central bank buys about 3 trillion yen ($27.2 billion) of ETFs every year. While policy makers don't disclose how those holdings translate into stakes of individual companies, estimates can be gleaned from publicly available central bank records, regulatory filings by companies and ETF managers, and statistics from the Investment Trusts Association of Japan. The BOJ declined to comment on Bloomberg's findings.

... "Of course, you can argue that we're in abnormal times so we have abnormal measures," said Ayako Sera, a Tokyo-based market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui. "The biggest question in the future will be: What happens when the BOJ exits?"

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The "Tokyo Whale" Is Quietly Buying Up Huge Stakes in Japan Inc (AND REGULATORS WILL NEVER SHUT IT DOWN!)