TOKYO |
TOKYO Nov 13 (Reuters) – Nikko Asset Management will
likely be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s first section as
early as mid-December, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday
without citing sources.
The firm’s main shareholder, Japan’s Sumitomo Trust and
Banking Co., will sell about 30 percent of its stake in the firm
with the selling price expected to be 50 billion yen, which
would make it the second-largest initial public offering this
year, said the paper.
The market capitalisation of Nikko AM, one of Japan’s
largest asset management firms, after going public would likely
reach between 160 to 170 billion yen, added the paper.
Nikko, which manages $154 billion and has embarked on a
drive to become a major Asian player outside Japan, last year
agreed to buy Singapore’s DBS Asset Management and in March
completed a deal to purchase Australian firm Tyndall
Investments.
Nikko Asset chief executive Timothy McCarthy is keen to
transform the firm into a leading pan-Asian asset manager.
Nikko Asset has offices in Tokyo, Singapore, London, New
York and Hong Kong. It also owns 40 percent of Rongtong Fund
Management, an asset management company in China.
Sumitomo Trust acquired Nikko Asset from Citigroup for
$1.2 billion in July 2009. At the time, Sumitomo Trust said it
hoped to list the fund management company within 2-3 years.
(Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Sugita Katyal)