Fewer firms go public in Japan in 2025

The number of companies going public on Japanese stock exchanges in 2025 is expected to fall by 24 from the previous year to 110, the Tokyo Stock Exchange said Monday.

Seven companies were newly listed on the TSE's top-tier Prime section, up three from the year before, while 12 went public on its Standard section, down one, and 40 on its Growth section for startups, down 23.

Forty-six firms made their debut on the Tokyo Pro Market for professional investors.

The number of newly listed firms, excluding those only listed on the Tokyo Pro Market, came to 66, the lowest since 2013.

"Many firms are struggling to grow despite going public while they are still small," an official at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. said.

The lower number of newly listed firms "may be an indication of the trend away from small-scale initial public offerings," the official said.

There were four large-scale IPOs with a market value of over 100 billion yen, as the key Nikkei 225 stock average surpassed 50,000 yen for the first time in late October.

Among them, Sony Financial Group Inc. became the first to reach a market value of one trillion yen since the TSE's market realignment in April 2022.

SBI Shinsei Bank, which is scheduled to make its stock market debut on December 17, is also expected to fetch a market value of one trillion yen.