Nissan Mutual

Mutual insurance

A mutual insurance company is an insurance company which has no shareholders but instead is owned entirely by its policyholders. The primary form of financial business set up as a mutual company in the United States has been mutual insurance. Under this idea, what would have been profits are...

 Life Insurance Company (日産生命保険相互会社) was a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese company that went bankrupt

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 on April 25, 1997. It was the first time since the postwar period that a life insurer went bankrupt.

Aoba Life Insurance took over all its insurance contracts in October 1997. Aoba was a company established in June by the Life Insurance Association of Japan, the trustee

Trustee

Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...

 appointed by the Ministry of Finance to handle the asset

Asset

In financial accounting, assets are economic resources. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset...

s and liabilities of Nissan Mutual Life Insurance. On November 30, 1999 Aoba was sold to Artemis, a French holding controlled by Francois Pinault

François Pinault

François Pinault is a French businessman who runs the retail company PPR. He is a friend of former French President Jacques Chirac....

.