Japan Post Holdings prices IPO at top of range, raising US$5.7b

[TOKYO] Japan Post Holdings Co set the price for its initial public offering of shares at the top of an indicative range, following the pattern set in concurrent IPOs for its banking and insurance arms and reflecting strong demand from retail investors in Japan's biggest privatisation in three decades.

In a regulatory filing on Monday, the holding firm for the state-owned mail and financial giant priced shares at 1,400 yen apiece in the IPO, the top of a book-building range set at 1,100-1,400 yen, raising 693 billion yen (S$7.98 billion).

Japan Post Bank Co and Japan Post Insurance Co announced top-of-range pricing in their respective IPOs last week.

The government will raise a total of 1.4 trillion yen from the triple IPO, with proceeds to be used to help fund reconstruction programmes after Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

All three stocks will begin trading Nov 4.

REUTERS