The joint venture leasing company of Security Bank Corp. and Marubeni Corp. of Japan recently obtained regulatory approval to increase its capitalization.

Documents from the Securities and Exchange Corp. show that SBM Leasing Inc. raised its authorized capital stock from P150 million to P250 million. Out of the increase in capital stock, Security Bank subscribed to P60 million worth of shares and paid half of the subscription in cash.

Prior to the capital hike, the bank owned 60 percent of the leasing company, while Marubeni held the remaining 40 percent.

Formerly known as Security Finance Inc., SBM Leasing specializes in heavy equipment leasing.

SBM Leasing caters to Marubeni’s clients through Maxima Machineries Inc., the Japanese firm’s joint venture with another Philippine firm that is engaged in selling heavy equipment for construction and mining.

Marubeni is involved in the handling of products and provision of services in a broad range of sectors, including power projects and infrastructure, plants and industrial machinery, real estate development and construction, finance, logistics and information industry, and business investment, development and management. Marubeni has been engaged in the leasing business supporting the sales of construction machinery in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Indonesia.

Security Bank’s principal activities are organized into commercial and retail banking, corporate and investment banking and treasury operations. The bank’s earnings jumped 21 in the first nine months of 2011 to P4 billion from P3.3 billion in the same period last year, citing strong lending as well as increased earnings from foreign currency income and other fee-based income.

Its shares were unchanged at P96.55 each on Wednesday.