Japan's Supreme Court on Monday approved merger talks between troubled UFJ Holdings Inc. and Mitsubishi Tokyo Group Inc. that would create the world's largest bank. Presiding judge Toyozo Ueda upheld a previous court decision being challenged by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Supreme Court spokesman Takeshi Mamada said. The ruling turned down an appeal by Sumitomo intended to halt the talks, and will allow UFJ to proceed its negotiations with Mitsubishi, Mamada said. Sumitomo Trust offered last week to buy UFJ for stock valued at more than 3.2 trillion yen (US$29 billion, euro 24 billion) despite UFJ's agreement to merge with Mitsubishi. A merger of UFJ with either of the two larger Japanese banks would create the world's biggest bank. The Sumitomo proposal was made almost two weeks after UFJ and Mitsubishi Tokyo announced they would combine their operations by October 2005.
