Pricing At $48 Per Share Expected To Raise $8.5 Billion

What a difference a couple of years makes. After working through bankruptcy in 2010, Japan Airlines is poised to hit the Tokyo stock market with an IPO that is expected to raise some $8.5 billion, which would make it second only to Facebook as an initial public offering in 2012.

USA Today reports that pricing announced Monday was about $48 per share ... or 3,500 yen. That's considered to be at the top of its value range. The airline showed a profit of about $2.4 billion in its fiscal year ending in March, 2012.

But the Wall Street Journal reports that the airline's biggest challenge will be to hang on to individual investors that are expected to make up nearly three-quarters of its new shareholders. If they sell too quickly, it could depress the price of the shares to something under the IPO price, which was what happened to Facebook's stock earlier this year.

The paper reports that JAL's shares were priced in such a way as to keep them attractive when compared to other airline's stocks. But the airline is already facing profitability questions because of ongoing economic pressure, fuel price fluctuations, and a lot of competition particularly coming from low-cost carriers.

So far, the company's performance has apparently pleased the Japanese government, as well as the agency it charged with propping up JAL financially during its bankruptcy. The Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp expects to nearly double its investment in the carrier. Nikkei.com reports that the stock will be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchanges first section on September 19th.

FMI: www.jal.com