NAGOYA (Kyodo) Police searched the head office of Nagoya-based World Net Investment and several other locations Tuesday on suspicion they sold shares of a pesticide company without a license before it was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in November.
The raid came after the pesticide company, Earth Chemical Co., received about 1,300 inquiries from individuals who claimed they "suffered damages" because they bought unlisted shares from World Net Investment and a few other apparently unlicensed agents at prices up to 10 times higher than what the stock fetched just after it went public.
The recent upswing in Japanese share prices has been accompanied by rising complaints about solicitation to buy shares in unlisted companies. Sellers persuade people to invest by telling them they can make huge capital gains when the companies go public.