TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo Inc., the largest mobile carrier in Japan with 39.6 million cellular phone subscribers, announced that it will apply to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange in early March.
Keiji Tachikawa, president of NTT DoCoMo, last Friday said the carrier decided to be listed in both markets to offer more investment opportunities to foreign investors and to gain channels to raise funds in overseas markets.
The financial advisor for the NYSE listing is Goldman Sachs, and the financial advisor/sponsor for the LSE listing is UBS Warburg.
NTT DoCoMo was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October 1998. Currently, foreign investors hold a 13.2-percent stake of DoCoMo. NTT Corp., the holding company of NTT Group, holds 64 percent of NTT DoCoMo.
NTT DoCoMo was reportedly planning to be listed on both the New York and London exchanges last September. However because the stock markets were so bearish at that time, DoCoMo reportedly postponed the listing.
NTT DoCoMo has been gearing up its international strategy by buying stakes in the world’s leading carriers. During the past few years, DoCoMo has invested a total of $13.4 billion in five European, Asian and U.S. carriers, including AT&T Wireless Services Inc. Using the simultaneous listings on the world’s two leading stock exchanges, NTT DoCoMo will promote its international strategy by gearing up its foreign investments.
On Jan. 25, NTT DoCoMo also announced a one-to-five stock split o increase the liquidity of its shares. According to the company, each share of NTT DoCoMo held on March 31, 2002, will be divided into five shares on May 15, 2002. Due to the split, the number of outstanding shares will increase from a current 10.04 million to 50.18 million.
