Tokyo Metro shares jump a third in market debut

Shares in Tokyo Metro jumped 36% in their Tokyo market debut on Wednesday after an initial public offering proved popular among investors.

Tokyo Metro, one of the capital's two major subway operators, opened at 1,430 yen ($9.44) after shares were initially untraded with a glut of buy orders.

The company raised $2.3 billion after pricing its IPO at the top of an indicative range at 1,200 yen apiece. The IPO was more than 15 times oversubscribed, Reuters has reported, with investors drawn to a household name with an attractive dividend yield.


"The listing of a large company familiar to individual investors has a large merit in broadening the investor base," Toshio Morita, CEO of the Japan Securities Dealers Association and former president of Nomura Securities, said last week.

Tokyo Metro forecasts a dividend of 40 yen per share for the financial year ending March 2025 and has appealed to investors with perks such as toppings at the noodle eateries it operates.

The IPO is the largest in Japan since SoftBank Group listed its telecoms unit in late 2018. Rigaku Holdings, a maker of X-ray testing tools, raised $863 million in its IPO after pricing shares at the top of the range and will debut on Friday.

There have been $4.9 billion worth of IPOs year to date in Japan, LSEG data shows, the largest amount in six years.

($1 = 151.5600 yen)