TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan Post Holdings Co. has entered into negotiations to sell its stake in Japan Post Bank, it was learned on the 21st. If the company decides to sell the stock, it will be the first since November 2015, when the three group companies went public, and there is a possibility that the sale will exceed 1 trillion yen. Assuming the sale within the fiscal year, a decision will be made soon.
This was confirmed by several people familiar with the matter. Japan Post Holdings is the largest shareholder, holding approximately 89% of Japan Post Bank shares. According to two people involved in the sale, the company aims to reduce its holding ratio to about 60% and meet the listing requirements (35% of circulating shares) on the prime market, which had been treated as a special case until now.
Details such as the price and the sales ratio in Japan and overseas will be finalized in the future, but it is possible that the scale of the sale will be around 1.2 trillion yen, including the share buyback by Japan Post Bank. According to three people involved in the project, the company currently expects the property to go on sale in late March. The timing will be changed depending on the trend of the stock price.
Both Japan Post and Japan Post Bank spokespersons responded, “There is no fact that a decision has been made.”
Japan Post plans to reduce its shareholding ratio in each of the two financial companies, including Japan Post Insurance Co., to 50% or less by fiscal 2025. However, we will consider selling additional shares of Japan Post Bank separately from this sale.
(Miho Uranaka, Takaya Yamaguchi Editing: Nobuhiro Kubo, David Dolan)
