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Monday, 22nd February 2010
In Business In Japan,

Japanese firm announces share sell

Japanese insurance firm Dai-Ichi has announced it is to sell shares worth 1.1 trillion yen in a funds raising move.

The move, which could turn out to be the second biggest initial public offering initially put on the table by any firm in Japan, is part of a wider effort to raise funds.

The firm is expected to set an initial price of 150,000 yen per share which would make the offering bigger than the current largest, set by NTT Docomo back in 1998.

"The listing will also be the first of its kind in Japan's life insurance sector, in which major life insurers are mutualised - meaning their ownership structure has no shareholders and equity is technically held by policyholders," Market Watch further explained.

Dai-Ichi Life, which is based in Tokyo, will sell 4.6 million shares in Japan and will offer up 2.5 million shares to overseas investors.

Shares on the Japanese stock exchange fell sharply last week, with other Asian nations also seeing drops.

Written by Mark Smith.