Japan is poised to welcome larger share-sale debuts in the coming months, invigorating a market that has mostly seen debuts raising less than $100 million (¥14.4 billion) in the past decade.
Subway operator Tokyo Metro said last week that its initial public offering was aiming to raise around ¥319.6 billion ($2.2 billion) — placing it on course for Japan’s biggest listing since SoftBank’s $21 billion IPO in 2018. The offering joins Carlyle Group-backed scientific-instruments company Rigaku Holdings which is seeking to raise about ¥109.6 billion in its debut next month.
New listings look to be gaining momentum as the Nikkei 225 Stock Average has rebounded more than 20% from this year’s intraday low set on Aug. 5. Japanese share sales have reached a 20-year high this fiscal year that started April 1, highlighting how not even the equity rout last month has damped investor demand for new stocks.
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