Japan's finance ministry said Monday it would sell one million shares in former state monopoly Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. at 949,000 yen (8,706 dollars) each.
The price for the sixth tranche of NTT shares represents a three-percent discount to the sprawling group's closing price on Monday of 979,000 yen.
The finance ministry expects net revenue of 936.6 billion yen from the latest offering, which is aimed at helping curb a surging national debt and speed up NTT's privatization, which began in 1985.
NTT will issue 300,000 new shares at the same price, the ministry said in a statement, with applications from investors accepted from Tuesday to Thursday.
The sale of new shares will help finance NTT's acquisition of US web-hosting firm Verio Inc., resulting in the government's stake in the former state monopoly falling as low as 46 percent.
The ministry has downplayed fears that the influx of NTT shares poses a threat to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. But the headline Nikkei-225 index has suffered on jitters ahead of the sale.
There is also doubt about the likely demand for the sale, with the NTT group's market capitalization in the strange position of being worth less than its mobile telephone unit, NTT DoCoMo Inc.
The group has been criticized for a lackluster approach to restructuring and also attacked for resisting competition from newcomers.
Of the one million shares released by the finance ministry, 760,000 will be sold domestically, 170,000 in the United States and 70,000 in other overseas markets, the statement said.
Of the 300,000 new shares, 200,000 will be offered to the domestic market, up to 10,000 in the United States and up to 90,000 in other overseas markets -- TOKYO (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
