Okura & Co Ltd which mainly handles steel and machinery products, said it made the bankruptcy filing with a total of 257.7 billion yen ($1.80 billion) in debts.

Japan's high number of corporate bankruptcies, which rose to record levels last year, are seen worsening further, given domestic economic woes and the fragile banking sector which has becoming increasingly reluctant to make fresh loans.

The growing worries are also taking a human toll. Two brothers troubled by poor finances at their sheet metal firm committed double suicide on Thursday, the day their accounts were due to be settled. Okura said that it could not get the backing it needed from its banks or affiliated companies.

"We have given up seeking a business restructuring and have filed for bankruptcy," the Tokyo-based Okura said in astatement.

Okura, established in 1991, said it suffered losses from real estate projects in the wake of the collapse of Japan's 1980s "bubble" period of inflated asset prices. It held problem assets of 99.8 billion yen as on March end.

The company posted a parent net loss of 8.79 billion yen in the business year which ended in March, marking its sixth consecutive losing business year.

Okura's efforts to survive through a possible merger or new share issuance via a third-party allocation also had faltered in the face of Japanese banks' tight lending stance.

Fuji Bank Ltd, a major shareholder of the failed trading house, separately announced that its group's outstanding loans to Okura totalled 38 billion yen, of which it sees possible losses of some 15 billion to 20 billion yen. The bank said it sees no need to revise its earnings estimates for the year that started in April. Okura was the fourth company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange that went bust this year, following Daido Concrete Co Ltd, MitsuiWharf Co Ltd, and Asakawagumi Co Ltd.