monday should be very nice indeed, page-2

Here's some very good news

Mitsubishi UFJ Agrees to Buy Allco Finance's European Rail Unit
By Joyce Moullakis

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- A unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's biggest bank by market value, agreed to buy the European rail business of Australia's Allco Finance Group Ltd. for $112 million.

The sale includes 27 locomotives, three of which have been delivered, Sydney-based Allco Finance said in an e-mailed statement today. All of the trains are subject to long-term leases in the U.K. and Europe, it said.

Allco Finance is offloading some assets as bankers consider its plans to restructure debt. Record Realty Trust, an Australian real estate investment trust managed by Allco Finance, is selling all of its U.S. and German properties as part of a breakup plan. The company has lost more than 90 percent of its market value in the past year.

``While rail remains one of Allco's core asset classes, in accordance with our revised business plan, we believe that in the immediate term our efforts are more appropriately allocated to our U.S. rail business,'' said Mark Worrall, global head of Allco's rail unit.

As part of the transaction, BTMU Capital Corp., a division of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, will hire four Allco Finance employees.

Allco Finance yesterday forecast a full-year loss of A$1.5 billion ($1.4 billion).

Allco Finance slumped 19 percent to 72.5 Australian cents in Sydney trading, extending this year's decline to 88 percent.

-- Editors: Francis Harris, Ben Vickers