Shadow over Japan Tobacco’s stock offering

TOKYO: A widening probe of insider trading that has ensnared Japan’s largest brokerage now also threatens to complicate a plan to raise as much as US$6bil to fund reconstruction efforts after the March 2011 earthquake, bankers and officials say.

Japan’s Finance Ministry is in the process of selecting four underwriters to manage a stock offering for Japan Tobacco, the world’s third largest cigarette company in a deal expected to rank as one of Japan’s largest share sales in recent years.

The deal also represents the first major Tokyo share offering since Japan’s securities regulators began a formal investigation of insider trading at Nomura Holdings. – Reuters