Japan Post IPO turns to TV ads to draw retail investors

Tokyo

Japan Post Holdings Co's underwriters will seek to attract retail investors to its estimated 1.4 trillion yen (S$17 billion) public offering, betting they will shrug off the stock's slack performance and market anxiety over North Korea.

Most of the shares will be sold to individuals, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified before an announcement of the deal as soon as Monday. To help smooth the sale to retail investors, brokerages will start a television campaign to advertise shares in the postal giant as soon as this week, the people said.