Japan Post considers nearly $9 bln sale of stake in banking business -sources
21/02/2023 11:18
By Miho Uranaka and Takaya Yamaguchi
TOKYO, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Japan Post Holdings Co
6178.T is considering cutting its stake in its Japan Post Bank
Co 7182.T business by around a third by the end of next month,
in a share sale potentially worth nearly $9 billion, people
familiar with the matter said.
The postal giant is considering selling the shares by the
end of the current financial year that ends in March and is
expected to take a decision shortly, based on market conditions,
according to three people, all of whom declined to be
identified.
The sale will see Japan Post Holdings, which owns around 89%
of Japan Post Bank, reduce the stake to around 60%, helping the
banking business to meet Tokyo Stock Exchange requirements on
share liquidity, two of the people said.
The deal would be worth around 1.2 trillion yen ($8.9
billion) at current market prices, two of the people said.
Spokespeople for both Japan Post Holdings and Japan Post
Bank said no such decision had been made.
The sale price and percentage of shares to be sold to
overseas investors have yet to be decided. Japan Post Bank is
also considering buying back some of the shares, according to
two of the people.
This would mark the first such sale of shares in Japan Post
Bank since the national postal giant and its two financial
businesses, Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance Co
7181.T , were listed in 2015, in the country's biggest
privatisation in about three decades.
As part of its privatisation, Japan Post Holdings is set to
reduce its stake in both the bank and insurance divisions to 50%
or less by the end of March 2026. It reached that target for the
insurance unit in 2021.
Under rules introduced last year, companies listed on the
top section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange need to keep a tradable
share ratio of 35% or more.
($1 = 134.8000 yen)
(Reporting by Miho Uranaka and Takaya Yamaguchi; Editing by
David Dolan, Nobuhiro Kubo and Jane Merriman)
((david.dolan@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 4563 2708;))