Listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in its 34th year (2003)

From borrowing on four names to borrowing on its own

For the thirty-four years from 1969 to 2003, this company’s credit was made out of the names of its four shareholders: Itochu’s deals and the Dai-Ichi Bank group’s credit lines, the money of Nippon Life and Asahi Mutual Life. That it could turn ¥800bn of assets on ¥18.6bn of its own equity was for no other reason than that lenders saw those four standing behind it. What the listing gave the company was not merely the ¥7.52bn of cash raised in the offering. It was a credit of its own, marked every day by a share price and a rating.

The listing did not, however, move the cast of shareholders. As late as March 2006, Itochu still held 20.13%, and the top ten holders 59.23%. The presidents who followed continued to come from Nippon Life, the Mizuho side and Itochu, and the pattern by which the shareholder structure decides the management structure remained. What changed was how the money was raised, not what the company was made of. Three years after listing, in March 2006, the company took a fresh rating and issued its first ¥10bn of unsecured straight bonds in its own name.