Japan's Dai-ichi Life plans $11.8 billion IPO to fund acquisitions
22 Feb 2010
Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance, Japan's oldest and third-largest life insurer, is planning to raise about 1.1 trillion yen ($11.8 billion) in an initial public offering (IPO) in what could be the country's second-largest-ever IPO, in order to fund acquisitions.
Tokyo-based Dai-ichi Life, which is planning to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on 1 April, said it would sell 7.1 million shares. Of this, 4.6 million shares would be sold in Japan and about 2.5 million shares overseas.
Dai-ichi has fixed a tentative price of 150,000 yen per share but will arrive at a final price on 19 March after talking to investors. At that price, Dai-ichi's total market value would be 1.5 trillion yen.
Dai-ichi Life, which has assets worth 30,498 billion yen, has lined up more than 30 investors including Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Sompo Japan Insurance to subscribe to its IPO.
Japan's two major financial groups, Mitsubishi Mitsui, the nation's two largest brokerages Nomura and Daiwa Securities Group as well as Canon and Asahi Breweries will take a stake in Dai-ichi, Dai-ichi said in a statement from .
Dai-ichi Life's IPO would be Japan's biggest since mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo's 2.1 trillion yen IPO in 1998 and biggest in the world since Visa's $20 billion IPO in 2008.
