FinanceAsia, the largest Asian-based financial publishing company, recently announced that Jupiter Telecom's $1 billion IPO is the recipient of the 2005 FinanceAsia Achivement Award for Japan as Best IPO.  Morrison & Foerster/Ito & Mitomi represented the lead managers Nikko Citigroup and Goldman Sachs on Japanese law aspects of the global offering of Jupiter's initial listing of shares on the Jasdaq Securities Exchange.  The offering consisted of a registered public offering in Japan, a Rule 144A offering in the US and a Regulation S offering elsewhere and raised 105 billion yen.  It was Japan's second largest IPO of the year and was noted by FinanceAsia as showing the importance of foreign investors in the primary as well as the secondary market. 

Jupiter Telecommunications (J-Com), Japan's #1 cable provider, sells cable TV services to more than 1.5 million subscribers through its 20 managed franchises and serves more than 700,000 subscribers for both its VOIP phone and broadband Internet services.  It is the largest Multiple System Operator (MSO) in Japan and invests in a number of cable TV stations in order to perform integrated business operations with an aim to increase its management efficiency. 

The transaction team was led by I&M partner Fuyuo Mitomi and included partner Saori Nakamura and associate Hisateru Goda.

A full write-up of the 2005 Japan deal awards appears in the February 2006 edition of FinanceAsia Magazine.