Dai-ichi makes grand entrance on Tokyo Stock Exchange

Thursday 1 April was a momentous day
for Dai-ichi Life when, in its new guise as a public company, it
listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange following the world’s biggest
initial public offer (IPO) in two years, and Japan’s biggest in 11
years.

Dai-ichi’s shares ended their first day of
trading 14% above the ¥140,000 ($1,500) per share they were pitched
at in the IPO, and gave the insurer a market capitalisation of
about $17bn.

In the IPO, Dai-ichi Life, Japan’s
second-largest life insurer listed 10m new shares, 2.9m going to
policyholders, 5m to Japanese investors and the balance of 2.1m to
foreign investors. The insurer raised some $11bn in the IPO which
was reported in the Japanese media to have been up to four times
over-subscribed.

In the nine months to 31 December 2009,
Dai-ichi reported premium income of $23.3bn, up just under 4%
compared with the same period in 2008, while net profit was
virtually unchanged at $1.138bn. Total assets at the end of 2009
stood at $326.4bn.

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