Takara Leben, a Japanese condominium sales company, is attempting to make history by executing the country’s first rights issue in a move that could have implications out of all proportion to the deal’s relatively modest size. The deal, due to close at the time of writing in late May, will be the first rights issue by a Japanese company under new regulations issued by the Tokyo Stock Exchange that aim to make rights issues easier for Japanese companies to undertake.
The timing of this test of the new model is significant given the looming Basle III regulations on bank capital. Japan’s banks have been among the world’s largest issuers of equity in the past two years, with the three biggest raising more than $20 billion between them. Under Basle III they...
