Tokyo — Kobe Steel was seeking ¥50bn ($440m) in loans from banks, a banking source said on Monday, while a shareholder said that it was ready to offer support as the company grappled with a scandal over falsified product specifications. Japan’s third-largest steel maker also pulled its forecast for a first annual profit in three years as it deals with the financial effect of one of Japan’s biggest corporate scandals. Kobe Steel is losing customers and said on Friday that it had a government-sanctioned seal of quality revoked on some of its products. The steel maker’s admission in October that it had found widespread tampering in specifications has sent companies in global supply chains scrambling to check whether the safety or performance of their products has been compromised. While no safety issues have been identified, Kobe Steel’s parts and materials are used across the world in cars, trains, aircraft and nuclear plants. The company, which has said that it could not fully quanti...
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