INPEX' IPO to raise $1.5 b

Japanese state-backed oil company INPEX Corp. was on course to raise nearly 160 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in the country's third-biggest initial public offering this year after pricing the shares on Monday at the top of its tentative range, Reuters reported

INPEX, 54 percent owned by Japan National Oil Corp. (JNOC), said the shares were priced at 465,000 yen, indicating strong demand for the stock even in a weakening IPO market.

JNOC had set a tentative price range of 430,000 yen to 465,000 yen for the sale of 17.9 percent of INPEX, which is scheduled to debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Nov. 17.

It will be the third-biggest IPO in Japan this year after a $3.4 billion sale of shares in Electric Power Development Co. Ltd. (J-Power) , in which the government held an 83 percent stake, and a $2.4 billion offering in Shinsei Bank Ltd. .

INPEX's price to earnings (PE) ratio is 29.06 at the offered price, compared with 25.93 for rival Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. and 26.35 for Teikoku Oil Co. Ltd. .

INPEX was set up in 1966 to explore for oil and gas overseas to make up for a lack of resources at home. It has production of about 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The firm is the biggest supplier of natural gas to the Bontang liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Indonesia and is responsible for more than a quarter of all the LNG exported to Japan from Indonesia, one of Japan's major LNG suppliers.

INPEX is held 12.41 percent by Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. , which was spun off from JNOC in December, and 9.88 percent by Mitsubishi Corp. , Japan's biggest trading company.

The IPO is being managed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. , Nomura Securities , Daiwa SMBC Co. and Nikko Citigroup, among others. ($1=105.36 yen.(*)