MILLEA Holdings Inc, Japan's biggest insurance company, has sold its 6 percent stake in Aozora Bank Ltd, the Japanese lender controlled by US buyout fund Cerberus Capital Management LP.

Millea??s Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co unit sold the holding, the insurer said in a document filed to the Ministry of Finance yesterday. The company didn??t say who bought the shares, worth about US$253 million at current market value, or at what price, Bloomberg News said.

The insurer cut its stake in Tokyo-based Aozora to 6 percent from 9.09 percent in April, and Hiroshi Amemiya, a managing director at Millea??s main casualty insurance unit, stepped down from the bank??s board last month.

The lender reported a 93-percent decline in annual profit last year because of losses on subprime mortgage investments and has declined 41 percent in Tokyo trading in the past 12 months. Aozora Chairman Kimikazu Noumi, who joined from Norinchukin Bank Ltd, resigned on Wednesday last week.

Millea??s Tokio Marine joined Softbank Corp and Orix Corp in taking over Aozora, then called Nippon Credit Bank Ltd, from Japan??s government in 2000.