Tokyo Metro looks to raise up to $2.4 billion in largest Japan IPO since 2018

TOKYO : Tokyo Metro has set a price range for an initial public offering at 1,100 to 1,200 yen per share, against an initial estimate of 1,100 yen, a regulatory filing showed on Monday.

At the top of the range, Tokyo Metro, one of two subway operators in Japan’s capital, would raise 349 billion yen ($2.35 billion) in the largest IPO in Japan for six years.

The final IPO price for the subway operator, which is owned by the Tokyo and national governments, will be decided on Oct. 15 before a Tokyo Stock Exchange listing on Oct. 23.

Elsewhere in Japanese IPOs, Rigaku, a maker of X-ray testing tools backed by buyout firm Carlyle Group, plans to list this month.

Bain Capital-backed chipmaker Kioxia has scrapped its plan for an IPO in October, Reuters reported last month.

Japan’s stock market suffered a historic rout in early August, sparked by a surprise interest rate hike and fear of a U.S. recession, before regaining ground. The benchmark index is up around 18 per cent so far this year.

Tokyo Metro’s history dates back to 1920 with the establishment of the Tokyo Underground Railway Company.

Seven years later, it opened Japan’s first subway line, between the Asakusa and Ueno districts of Tokyo.

($1 = 148.4200 yen) (This story has been refiled to add the dropped word ‘offering’ in paragraph 1)