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Nippon Paper's LINTEC Stake Craters From 24% to 3% After Share Sale

Nippon Paper's voting stake in adhesive-materials maker LINTEC fell from 23.89% to 3.12% after a September 8 secondary offering, and a Mizuho greenshoe running to September 28 could wipe out what remains.

Sep 8, 20262 min readLINTEC Corporation7966
Illustration of a shrinking ownership-stake bar next to rolls of adhesive film on a factory production line, symbolizing Nippon Paper's reduced stake in LINTEC.

Nippon Paper's long-standing anchor position in LINTEC, the Tokyo-listed maker of adhesive-backed materials, has all but disappeared. An extraordinary report LINTEC filed with the Kanto Local Finance Bureau on September 8 shows Nippon Paper's voting rights fell from 143,020 (23.89% of total voting rights) to 18,654 (3.12%) once settlement completed on a secondary offering the LINTEC board approved on August 20.

Nippon Paper's LINTEC Stake, Before and After
Figures come from two separate EDINET filings using different reporting bases: LINTEC's own major-shareholder voting-rights count, and Nippon Paper's joint large-shareholding report with a second co-filer.
MeasureBeforeAfter
Nippon Paper voting rights (LINTEC filing)143,020 (23.89%)18,654 (3.12%)
Combined stake with second co-filer (large shareholding filing)20.54%3.38%

The drop happened in two steps. On August 24, LINTEC bought back 5,464,400 of its own shares through a ToSTNeT-3 off-exchange trade, with Nippon Paper selling 5,357,800 of those shares into the buyback at ¥5,490 apiece. Then, on September 1, Nippon Paper sold a further 12,436,600 shares off-market to Mizuho Securities at ¥5,115 each under a domestic secondary offering that settled on September 8. A related filing shows the combined stake held by Nippon Paper and a second co-filer named in the same report fell from 20.54% to 3.38% of LINTEC's 72,488,740 outstanding shares once both holders' positions are counted together.

Even that residual position is not settled. Nippon Paper has granted Mizuho an over-allotment (greenshoe) option to buy up to 1,865,400 more shares, exercisable through September 28, 2026. If Mizuho exercises the option in full, Nippon Paper's remaining 18,654 voting rights would be wiped out. Nippon Paper has also agreed, subject to certain exceptions, not to sell further LINTEC shares without Mizuho's written consent until March 6, 2027, fixing the general shape of any future disposal.

The ownership change has a governance consequence too. LINTEC's board lost an outside director on September 8, with the company stating the reason is that Nippon Paper's sell-down removes LINTEC from Nippon Paper's roster of equity-method affiliates. LINTEC said its board still meets the director count required by law and its articles even after the departure. The next date to watch is September 28, when Mizuho's window to exercise the greenshoe closes.