It’s time to quit Japanese staffing giant Recruit

NTT Data

12/09/2019 09:42

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are his own.)
    By Jeffrey Goldfarb
    LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Local companies
are selling a combined 7%, but substantial cross-holdings remain
an overhang. Worse, a market valuation of $50 bln relies on
strong growth in HR tech, including its job review site
Glassdoor, even as economic signs weaken. Justifying that will
become harder work.     
    Full view will be published shortly.
    On Twitter https://twitter.com/jgfarb
    
    CONTEXT NEWS
    - Thirteen shareholders in Recruit Holdings on Sept. 10
raised 325 billion yen, or about $3 billion, from selling stock
in the Japanese human resources giant at about a 3% discount,
according to IFR. The shares on offer, including an
overallotment option, represented about 7.2% of Recruit’s total
shares outstanding.
    - The company said on Aug. 28, when it disclosed the
secondary share sale, that it was implementing an 80 billion yen
stock repurchase plan to buy back up to 30 million shares.
    - Recruit said the coordinated offering was designed to
reduce the impact on its stock price and to expand its
shareholder base globally. Selling shareholders included Toppan
Printing, NTT Data and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
    - The company’s shares closed at 3,237 yen apiece in Tokyo
on Sept. 12.
    - For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  GOLDFARB/  
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Recruit announcement    https://recruit-holdings.com/ir/ir_news/2019/20190828_02.html
Recruit’s mega follow-on prices at narrow discount – IFR   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2612B4
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 (Editing by Richard Beales and Katrina Hamlin)
 ((jeffrey.goldfarb@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
jeffrey.goldfarb.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))