Japan govt to name underwriters for further Japan Post share sale

TOKYO: The Japanese government will soon select underwriters for a further sale of shares in Japan Post Holdings Co, a government official said on Monday, laying the groundwork to add to the country's biggest privatisation in nearly 30 years.

The conglomerate made an unprecedented three-way initial public offering in November 2015, in which the holding company and its two financial units each sold about 10% shares to the public.

The government has planned to eventually raise about 4 trillion yen (US$35 billion) through additional stake sales in Japan Post group to fund the reconstruction of areas hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

A government panel will meet on Monday to decide criteria for selecting lead underwriters for further sales of Japan Post, said the official who had direct knowledge of the matter. It was not immediately clear when the underwriters would be chosen.

A Japan Post spokesman said he was unaware of any such plans.

The government sold about US$12 billion worth of shares in Japan Post and its Japan Post Bank Co and Japan Post Insurance Co units in the IPO, which was the largest privatisation of a Japanese state-owned firm since that of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp in 1987.

The parent company's stock was down 3.7% in afternoon trade after the Nikkei reported the government would sell a further 1.4 trillion yen - the ceiling for expected revenues from such a sale in the draft government budget for the fiscal year starting in April.

Japan Post Holdings's shares surged as much as 40% over its IPO price of 1,400 yen in the weeks following its stock market debut.

But they had been traded below the IPO price since the middle of last year until the market rally following the surprise victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election. - Reuters