The Japan Competition Authority publishes a report on potential competition issues in price-setting of IPOs

On January 28, 2022, the Japan Fair Trade Commission ("JFTC") published a report "Understanding the reality of the public offering price setting process in the initial public offerings (IPOs)" ("Report"). [1] The Report was prepared to examine whether there are any issues under competition policy and antitrust law that may cause the opening price to substantially exceed the IPO price. Currently Japan’s listing system is not friendly to entrepreneurs who would like to take on new challenges. Specifically in the case of IPOs, a share price on the first day of listing (opening price) tends to be significantly higher than a price (IPO price) at which the entrepreneurs sold their shares, and the entrepreneurs tend to earn less money compared to foreign countries. It is desirable from the