Resona Holdings Inc., the nation's fourth-largest bank, said Friday that it will raise as much as ¥575 billion selling shares in a global public offering this month to repay government bailout funds.
Resona will sell the shares in Japan and abroad, and decide the price as early as Jan. 24, the bank said in a filing to the Finance Ministry on Friday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. joined Nomura Holdings Inc. and Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co. as co-underwriters.
Chairman Eiji Hosoya has vowed to repay public funds after taking charge of steering the bank's revival more than seven years ago. The worst performer on the Topix Banks Index over the past six months, Resona is under pressure to expand business after revenue fell for three straight years.
"Investors are concerned whether the bank will find a successor who can continue the charismatic Hosoya's work," said Tsuyoshi Kawata, senior strategist at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. in Tokyo. "Hosoya has been determined to navigate the bank through its revitalization and repay public funds."
Resona had fallen 4 percent to ¥523 as of 3 p.m. in Tokyo, extending its losses to 51 percent since July.
Resona said in November that it plans to raise as much as ¥600 billion in the sale and use the proceeds along with cash reserves to repay ¥900 billion of government debt.