Japan to Miss Target With $7.4 Billion Postal Stake Sale
Japan Government to Sell $7.4 Billion of Postal Giant Shares
(Bloomberg) -- The Japanese government will raise 843 billion yen ($7.4 billion) from the sale of Japan Post Holdings Co. shares -- about $1 billion short of its original target -- in the ongoing privatization of the postal and financial-services giant.
Shares in the secondary share sale were priced at 820.6 yen apiece, according to a statement, marking a 2% discount to Monday’s closing price of 837.4 yen.
The government will miss its target of 950 billion yen after shares slumped 9.6% since the mail giant announced its plans on Oct. 6. Meanwhile, Japan’s benchmark Topix index has risen 2.8% over the same period.
As part of the deal, the state will offload about 1 billion shares to Japanese and overseas investors, and the company will then buy back shares worth up to 100 billion yen, or 3.5% of the total outstanding amount. The shares will be delivered to investors on Friday.
Japan has been seeking to raise total 4 trillion yen through a series of sales to fund the reconstruction of areas devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. With the offering, the third since Japan Post’s 2015 IPO, the state will cut its holding to 33% -- the minimum it’s required to hold by law -- from 61%.
The government previously owned 100% of Japan Post and raised 1.4 trillion yen in 2015 when it sold a 19.5% holding and 1.4 trillion yen in 2017 when it offloaded a further 23.6%.
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