OREANDA-NEWS. Aozora Bank, Ltd. announced that The Tokyo Star Bank, Limited will participate in Aozora's affiliate, AZ-Star Co., Ltd., as a joint major shareholder with equal voting rights to the Bank of 40%.

AZS is a joint venture company established in February of this year, in partnership with Kanematsu Corporation and ES Networks Co., Ltd., with the aim of supporting customers who are seeking growth opportunities in Asia.

AZS has since completed its first investment project through its corporate investment fund, AZ-Star Ichi-go Investment Limited Partnership ('the Ichi-go Fund').

Tokyo Star, together with its parent company CTBC Financial Holding Co., Ltd. ('CTBC'), has participated in this joint venture in mutual support of AZS' objective of incorporating Asian growth into Japan. As well as participating in AZS, TSB will become a major LP investor in the Ichi-go Fund, making an investment equal to that of Aozora of 3 billion yen, which will bring total investments to 6.7 billion yen.

Going forward, Aozora will aim to expand the scale of the fund to 15-20 billion yen through additional investments from outside LP investors.

Tokyo Star's participation in this joint venture will allow AZS to increase the scale and investment capabilities of the Ichi-go Fund, as well as further enhance the support framework for target companies, in order to provide greater support to companies seeking to expand their business into the Asian region.