During the asset-inflated bubble economy of the late 1980s, when the Tokyo stock market was enjoying rocketing prices, brisk transactions and a high reputation, securities authorities did not have to worry about how to invite foreign companies to list. But times have changed.
Amid growing fears that Japan's position among the world's financial markets is declining, the Tokyo Stock Exchange is struggling to lure potential firms from developing economies. It is part of a larger effort to make the market's presence attractive both for foreign countries and domestic investors.
The listing on the TSE Feb. 5 of Henderson Land Development Co., a Hong Kong real estate developer, may be something of another boon for exchange officials, who are trying to rebuild the crumbling foundation of the Tokyo market as an international financial center. Henderson is the first Hong Kong firm and the second non-Japanese Asian company to be listed on the TSE, after the listing of Malaysia-based YTL Corp. in February 1996. Henderson stock fetched an initial price of 1,140 yen and closed at the same price Feb. 5, compared with its closing price of 72.75 Hong Kong dollars, or about 1,150 yen, on the Hong Kong market the previous day.