Inpex debuts on TSE, initial quote tops IPO price: Report
Wednesday, November 17 2004 - 06:08 AM WIB
In line with the listing, the state-run Japan National Oil Corp., which holds a 53.96 percent stake in Inpex, plans to put up for sale 343,725 shares, or 17.9 percent of Inpex's 1.92 million outstanding shares, according to Inpex and JNOC.
Inpex is the second of JNOC's subsidiaries to go public, following Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., which made its debut on the TSE's First Section in December last year.
The listing of Inpex is part of the asset sell-off program of the heavily indebted JNOC, which is slated to be dismantled at the end of next March. Funds raised on the stock sales will be used to make up for losses incurred by JNOC.
The IPO by Inpex, worth about 160 billion yen, was the third largest this year, following those of Electric Power Development Co. and Shinsei Bank.
Inpex was established in February 1966 as part of a program to secure a stable supply of oil and natural gas for Japan. It has succeeded in developing a large-scale gas field in Indonesia, which is one of the company's main revenue sources along with one in Australia.
It also possesses oil exploration rights in the Middle East, the Caspian Sea and South America.
Amid heightening concern about energy supplies due to the recent surge in crude oil prices, Inpex is expected to play a pivotal role as a resource development company in Japan.
Apart from the common shares to be traded on the TSE, Inpex is to allocate special-class shares to JNOC to prevent foreign businesses from gaining a controlling stake.
Also on Wednesday, Inpex reported a group net profit of 34.78 billion yen for fiscal 2003, which ended March 31, up 24.6 percent from the previous year, and a pretax profit of 94.77 billion yen, up 35.3 percent, on an 8.6 percent rise in operating revenue to 218.83 billion yen. (*)