NTT DoCoMo, announced that it set the public offering prices for new shares at $17,500 per share for 400,000 shares. If the additional 60,000 shares are issued at the same price, the issue amount will total $8.1 billion, the firm said. The payment due is set for Feb. 22.
Matsushita Electric Industrial, the leading consumer electronics manufacturer in Japan, set up a research and development center in China, the firm announced. The new center, called Matsushita Research & Development (China), will focus on development of advanced technology such as third-generation mobile-phone systems. Matsushita is targeting to increase its worldwide share of mobile terminals from its current 3 percent to 10 percent in 2005.
Japan Telecom, the second-largest telecommunications company in Japan, announced that Vodafone Group transferred its 15-percent ownership stake in Japan Telecom to Vodafone International Holdings, a firm in the Netherlands. Following the deal, Vodafone International Holdings became the second-largest shareholder of Japan Telecom instead of Vodafone Group. Other shareholders include British Telecommunications and AT&T Wireless.
J-Phone Communications, the wireless business unit of Japan Telecom, will increase its capital from its current $27.2 million, said Haruo Murakami, president of Japan. J-Phone Communications, a holding company of J-Phone’s three operating companies, was set up in November 1998 to launch next-generation cellular services. Japan Telecom currently holds 54 percent of the stake in J-Phone Communications, the holding company of three J-Phone operational companies. Vodafone Group holds 26 percent, and BT holds the remaining 20 percent. President Murakami said three stakeholders are now in talks to work out how much they will raise through the fund.
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