Japan's biggest bank Mitsubishi UFJ start their share sale

Japan's biggest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial announced plans Wednesday to raise billion of dollars from investors, joining a scramble by firms to boost finances ravaged the global financial crisis. The news came as MUFG reported net profit soared 53.2 percent in the six months to September from a year earlier to 140.95 billion yen (1.6 billion dollars). "We have come through the financial crisis, compared with the situation a year ago," said MUFG president Nobuo Kuroyanagi, noting that the bank had made progress in cutting costs. But he said MUFG had decided against upgrading its earlier forecast for a net profit of 300 billion yen for the full financial year to March 2010 as it remained cautious about the business environment.