Aeon Hokkaido Corp. shares fell sharply Monday morning after the Japanese retailer announced a plan to sell millions of shares held by the parent and banks in an effort to increase the number of shares available for trading.
The shares were recently 9.4% lower at 961 yen ($7.42) after falling as much as 11% earlier.
Hokkaido, the Japan-based unit of Aeon Co. said Friday after market close that it would offer 16.1 million shares, including 11.6 million shares held by the parent and 2.2 million shares owned by North Pacific Bank Ltd.
Aeon Hokkaido said it wanted to increase the number of shares available for trading in the market to maintain its listing status on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The parent owned 105.3 million shares of Aeon Hokkaido, or 76% of outstanding shares, as of Aug. 31.
Aeon Hokkaido said it would decide the offering price sometime between Jan. 30 and Feb. 2 and could offer an additional 2.4 million shares held by shareholders if there was demand for them.
