A total of 124 Japanese companies went public in fiscal 2002, down from 174 the previous year, owing mainly to sluggish stock markets, according to a report released Monday by UFJ Tsubasa Research Institute Ltd.
Among the firms that issued initial public offerings on the nation's 14 stock markets, 106 floated their shares at so-called emerging markets for startups and small-cap firms, the report says.
Hardest hit was the Hercules market at the Osaka Securities Exchange, which saw only 16 IPOs for the year, down sharply from 43 in fiscal 2001. The market was hurt by the withdrawal of Nasdaq, which Hercules succeeded in December.
The Jasdaq over-the-counter market meanwhile attracted 74 IPOs during the same period, down from 100 a year earlier.
Information technology and telecommunications companies topped the IPO roster for the year, accounting for 27 percent of IPOs made during the period, followed by services, wholesale and real estate firms, it says.
The total amount of capital raised through IPOs by the 124 firms came to 444.3 billion yen, down 43 percent from the previous year. The average amount per issuer was 3.58 billion yen, slipping 20 percent from a year earlier.
The report attributed the second straight year of decline -- after peaking in fiscal 2000 -- to a continuing trend among prospective issuers to defer their moves due to worsening market conditions.