Japanese Post Minister Mikio Shimoji announced the intention of the Japanese government to list the shares of Japan Post Holdings Co, the public postal company, to finance the reconstruction of areas devastated by last year's earthquake, tsunami and damage to nuclear power plants.
No details have been disclosed on the size of the operation and on the expected revenue, but the Nikkei newspaper speculates that the share that the Government would place on the market will be two-thirds of the company's capital, for a collection of 7.000 billion yen (equivalent to 87 billion dollars).
The listing of Japan Post, which is the country's largest savings bank and has net assets of about 11.000 trillion yen, would be the largest since the 1997 listing of railway company Central Japan Railway Co. .
Before the operation is successful, however, there are some hurdles to overcome: the opposition, taken for granted, of the large Japanese credit institutions, who fear that the government, which will continue to be a minority shareholder of Japan Post, could benefit the company, and also the political uncertainty that prevails in the country, due to the elections scheduled for August 2013.
