Mizuho Financial Group (NYSE: MFG) announced a pricey deal to increase its equity stake in a peer this week, but this didn't impress investors very much. As a result, this week Mizuho's share price took a nearly 10% hit, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

On Thursday, Mizuho officially and categorically denied a media report that it was boosting its investment in that peer, Rakuten (OTC: RKUNY) Securities (a subsidiary of the near-namesake Japanese e-commerce company).

It's a bit questionable why Mizuho bothered, because later that same day it admitted that it had, in fact, made such a move. It said that it has agreed to purchase slightly over 29% of Rakuten Securities' common stock from an entity related to that company, Rakuten Securities Holdings. This will boost Mizuho's Rakuten Securities stake to 49%, with Rakuten Securities Holdings owning the remainder.

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Source Fool.com