Japan Post raises $11.6b in year's biggest sale

Men walk past an advertising poster at the head office of Japan Post in Tokyo in this October 19, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/Files

Japan's government raised the maximum 1.44 trillion yen ($11.9 billion) sought in the privatisation of the nation's postal service and its banking and insurance units.
Shares of Japan Post Holdings were priced at 1,400 yen, the top end of a marketed range, a Ministry of Finance filing showed Monday. Its two financial units were also offered at the highest price a week ago.
The three-pronged IPO is the world's biggest since Alibaba Group Holding in September 2014, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fulfills a plan first drawn up by his mentor and predecessor Junichiro Koizumi 10 years ago. Almost 80 per cent of the shares are being sold to individuals as part of Abe's goal of getting households to invest more of their savings.
Japan Post Holdings had been offered at 1,100 yen to 1,400 yen a share. It will list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on November 4, along with Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance Co.
The brokerages that worked on the IPO will receive about 24.5 billion yen in fees, according to Bloomberg calculations based on a Finance Ministry statement. Nomura Holdings, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co, Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co were global coordinators of the sale.
Investor orders for the shares in the three companies exceeded the number being offered after the first two days of bookbuilding, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month. Demand for the shares has been strong as Japan's stock market rebounds from a slump stemming from China's equity selloff in August. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average has gained 3.5 per cent since the sale plans were announced on September 10.
About 11 per cent of the three companies will be sold in the IPO, which is Japan's biggest since NTT Docomo Inc. in 1998 and the country's largest privatisation since Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp in 1987. Some of the proceeds will be used to rebuild areas in the northeast that were damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Italy is also floating its postal service, raising about ?3.1 billion ($3.4 billion) in the IPO of Poste Italiane SpA after fixing the price at ?6.75 a share last week.
Most of Japan Post's profit comes from its two financial units, which the government plans to eventually divest entirely. The holding company is shifting the focus of the postal service to logistics and package delivery as the volume of letters and postcards declines due to the advent of electronic communication and the shrinking population. It bought Australian logistics provider Toll Holdings for A$6.5 billion ($4.7 billion) this year.
Some 20 per cent of the offering was allocated to foreign institutions, and the rest to domestic investors, mostly individuals. The 60 brokerages that managed the IPO took the unusual step of screening commercials on national television during the bookbuilding period for the holding company last week.
The parent company's pricing is the cheapest of the three entities, at 0.41 times the book value of its assets. That compares with 0.47 times for the banking unit and 0.67 times for the insurer. Japan Post Bank has the most deposits in the country and Japan Post Insurance is the nation's largest insurer by assets.