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Hundreds of firms may be demoted in Tokyo Stock Exchange shake-up

Mar 19, 2019 | News On Japan

Mar 19, 2019 (Japan Times) - As part of an effort to streamline markets and attract more investors, the Tokyo Stock Exchange may demote about a third of its largest listed companies and cut down the bourses it operates to three from four, according to media reports.

A TSE advisory panel is expected to compile a report by the end of March after examining public comments on structural reforms for the $5.7 trillion equity market. The reported changes would demote hundreds of companies from the TSE’s first section, investors say.

The exchange included 2,137 companies as of Friday, double the number in 1990, according to the exchange’s parent, Japan Exchange Group Inc.

“It’s good to reduce the number of companies in the TSE’s first section,” said Kazuyuki Terao, the chief investment officer of Allianz Global Investors’ Japanese unit. “A lot of investors are using the Topix as a benchmark for their investments and the number of the constituents in the Topix is too many.”

The TSE may raise the minimum market-cap requirement to remain listed on the first section to ¥25 billion from ¥2 billion, and require that companies disclose filings in English, the Nikkei financial newspaper said Friday. Kyodo News reported the panel plans to recommend reducing the number of exchanges.

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