NEC considers NYSE listing
NEC heads for big time
TOKYO, July 5 (MaxisNet) - Japan's biggest personal computer and chip maker, NEC Corp., said it is considering listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Such a listing, in which it would join other Japanese multinationals such as Sony Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., would boost its financial credibility and enable it to enter into mergers and acquisitions (M&As) through equity swaps, analysts said.
"We will consider listing in NYSE in the future as one option to increase our options on future fund-raising and to strengthen our financial condition," said an NEC spokesman, who declined to give any further details.
The remarks were made after business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on Tuesday that NEC and U.S. unit NEC Business Network Solutions Inc plan to list on the exchange by 2002.
NEC President Koji Nishigaki is to hold a news conference later today to unveil a medium-term business strategy.
Nihon Keizai said the business plan would feature an active M&A strategy, and NEC would spend some 400 to 500 billion yen (US$3.77-4.71 billion) over the next three years to take over information-technology firms in the United States and Japan.
NEC has been keen to see IPOs of group firms at home, with its software developer, NEC Soft Co. Ltd., set to debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section on July 28.
This will be the first IPO for an NEC group company since Nippon Avionics Co. Ltd., a major maker of electronic aircraft equipment, was listed on the Tokyo bourse in 1988.
NEC has said it plans to list four more affiliates including NEC Leasing Co. Ltd. and Kowa Corp., a building maintenance and industrial waste processing firm, in the year to the end of 2002.
The IPOs are aimed at boosting the overall value of the group and giving its affiliates opportunities raise funds.
