Who wants to buy a Japanese bank? They are barely profitable, and they are weighed down by ￥150 trillion ($1.25 trillion) of bad debts. On July 2nd a credit-rating agency, Moody's, downgraded its assessment of the biggest banks' financial strength to an "E": the lowest you can get. Yet several, mostly foreign, groups are out shopping. They reckon that the banks' distressed-debt portfolios are full of profitable opportunities. They may also think they can turn banks around by improving their management and corporate governance. A handful of private-equity groups from America have bought bankrupt regional banks. The best-known foreign purchase was made by Ripplewood Holdings in 2000, which caused a stir. It bought the venerable Long-Term Credit Bank, now called Shinsei Bank, one of two big banks that were nationalised in 1998.
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