Airbag maker Takata plummets on bankruptcy fears

Tokyo : Takata shares dived again Tuesday, losing one-third of their value in just two days of trading on reports the troubled airbag maker will file for bankruptcy protection and sell its assets to a US company.

The embattled stock finished the day at 324 yen, tumbling by nearly 20 percent -- its maximum daily loss limit -- on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, after it plunged 16.5 percent Monday.

The Nikkei business daily has said the company, with liabilities exceeding one trillion yen ($9 billion), would make a formal decision about the bankruptcy filing at a board meeting this month.

Some other media followed up, reporting similar stories, with some of latest reports saying automakers were supporting the bankruptcy plan.

Takata, at the centre of the global auto industry's biggest-ever safety recall, was suspended from trading on Friday pending a response to the Nikkei story and other similar reports.

Later Friday Takata said that no decision had been made but "all options" were on the table.

American autoparts maker Key Safety Systems, owned by China's Ningbo Joyson Electronic, will take over the firm's operations, the Nikkei's report on Friday said.

The board of Takata's US-based unit TK Holdings is expected to approve a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy there this month, it added.

Like on Monday, the shares went untraded for most of Tuesday session's as the number of sell orders swamped buy orders.

Nearly 100 million cars, including about 70 million in the United States, were subject to the airbag recall, the largest in auto history, over the defective Takata airbags. These have been blamed for 11 deaths in the United States alone.