The Finance Ministry said Thursday it will sell 289,334 shares in the government's holdings of Japan Tobacco Inc. in early June.
Welcoming the ministry's decision, JT issued a statement saying it hopes "the offering will proceed smoothly."
The sale would bring in some 240 billion yen, based on JT stock's closing price of 816,000 yen Thursday on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The ministry will use the proceeds to finance the redemption of government bonds.
The government had planned to sell the JT shares in fiscal 2003, which ended in March, but a sharp fall in share prices forced it to scrap the plan for fear it would hurt the market. But as the Tokyo stock market has remained stable above 10,000, the ministry decided on the third sale of JT shares to the public after ones in 1994 and 1996.
The government currently owns 64.5 percent of the former tobacco monopoly's shares and is legally required to keep half of the shares.
For the coming sale both in Japan and overseas, the offering price will be decided between June 4 and 9 by the ministry through consultation with Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. and Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co. serving as joint global coordinators.