Japan Post to sell shares in its insurance unit to boost the group’s corporate value
Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd. is selling nearly a third of its outstanding shares in Japan Post Insurance Co., Ltd. In addition, Japan Post Insurance has revealed it would buy back its own shares worth up to ¥100 billion from April 8 until April 12, 2019.
The amount of shares to be sold are up to 168,108,700 shares of common stock. The value of the shares could reach up to ¥440 billion based on recent stock prices of Japan Post Insurance.
Japan Post Holdings expects its stake in the insurance unit to fall around 35%. Part of these funds from the sale are being used to acquire a stake in U.S. insurance giant Aflac Inc.
Based on Japanese postal privatisation law, Japan Post Holdings plans to sell all of its equity positions in Japan Post Insurance and Japan Post Bank. The postal service holding company announced the investment plan in December.
The joint global coordinators of the deal are JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., Daiwa Securities Co. and Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co.
The Japan Times reports that “Japan Post Holdings plans to use the proceeds from the share sale for strategic investment to boost the group’s corporate value.”
