Denso Corp and Toyota Industries Corp are also planning to unwind a portion of their holdings in Aisin in a sale that could be worth as much as ¥204 billion (US$1.3 billion) based on the company’s closing price, including shares offered as over allotment depending on demand.

The actual price will be set as early as July 8, according to Thursday’s statement.

Earlier this month, two of the country’s biggest banks — Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc — revealed plans to start divesting ¥1.32 trillion of strategic shareholdings in Toyota, the world’s No 1 automaker.

Although the government has been pushing corporate Japan to unwind cross shareholdings forged over decades to cement business relationships, banks and businesses have been slow to do so.

Toyota said its stake in Aisin will decrease to 20% from 24.8% after it sells roughly 13 million shares. Proceeds will be used to help fund efforts to make electric vehicles.

Aisin said in a statement it would conduct a three-for-one stock split effective Oct 1 and cancel 8.5% of its shares on July 31.

In May, Toyota announced a ¥1 trillion buyback programme, which is about 3% of its stock and significantly larger than previous repurchases.