(Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s biggest equity underwriter, expects initial public offerings will double to the highest in 17 years as a resurgent stock market attracts investors to entrants including Japan Post Holdings Co.
The value of debut share sales in the nation may exceed 2 trillion yen ($17 billion) in 2015, Nomura IPO head Hiroshi Yoshihara said in an interview in Tokyo this month. As many as 100 Japanese companies are preparing to sell shares this year, he said, up from 77 in 2014.
Yoshihara pledged to boost the quality of IPOs to defend the firm’s position as Japan’s No. 1 manager of initial offerings after arranging the country’s worst-performing major sale of 2014. Japan Display Inc. has tumbled about 49 percent since its March 19 listing, prompting investors to criticize Tokyo-based Nomura’s handling of the transaction.
“We got a dressing down, especially from individual investors,” said Yoshihara, 51. “We’ll make sure we bring deals to the market properly so investors have faith in share sales that carry the Nomura stamp.”
The benchmark Topix index closed at the highest level since December 2007 on Tuesday, a day after a government report showed Japan exited a recession last quarter. Swings in oil prices and a standoff between Greece and euro countries has spurred gyrations in financial markets worldwide this year.
“Investors have a strong appetite for debut companies,” Yoshihara said. “Even though the market’s pretty volatile, the trend will remain because investors believe the shares will rise as profits grow.”

Line IPO

About 90 to 100 Japanese companies, including smartphone software makers, information-technology providers and drug research ventures, are preparing to sell shares, Yoshihara said. Offerings totaling more than 2 trillion yen would be the highest since 1998, when NTT DoCoMo Inc. went public with a 2.1 trillion-yen sale, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Line Corp., the operator of Japan’s most popular mobile-messaging service, is working with Nomura and Morgan Stanley to prepare for an IPO that could value the company at more than 1 trillion yen, people with knowledge of the matter said last year. Yoshihara declined to comment on the matter, as did Hazuki Yamada, a spokeswoman for Line in Tokyo.
Excluding real estate investment trusts, 77 companies made first-time offerings in 2014, valued at 989 billion yen, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Japan Display was the biggest, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley managing the global sale alongside Nomura.