Japan Universal Studios park company to list stock

TOKYO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - USJ Co. Ltd., the operator of the Universal Studios theme park in Japan, received approval to list its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange next month, Japan's biggest bourse said on Tuesday.

The offering of about 10.7 percent in new shares and 16.2 percent in existing shares would value the entire company at about 88 billion yen ($724.9 million), according to Reuters calculations.

The company plans to issue 230,000 new shares, and existing shareholders will sell 347,143 shares ahead of a listing on the TSE's Mothers market on March 16. The initial public offering price will be decided on March 5.

USJ aims to raise about 9.7 billion yen in the IPO. It plans to invest a little under 2.6 billion yen of the proceeds in attractions and use the rest to pay back debt.

That fund-raising target implies a per share price of about 41,172 yen, according to Reuters calculations.

Universal Studios Japan opened in March 2001 as the movie giant's first theme park outside the United States. It made a strong start by drawing 11 million visitors in its first year, the equivalent of nearly one in 10 Japanese.

But the park, with rides and other attractions based on Hollywood blockbusters such as 'Back to the Future', 'Terminator' and 'Jurassic Park', has struggled since then amid a series of scandals over the use of tainted water, excessive usage of explosives for fireworks and out-of-date food.

USJ posted a group net loss of 4.63 billion yen in the year ended March 2006. It forecasts a profit of 1.0 billion yen in the current year to March 2007 on sales of 69.3 billion yen, up 1.6 percent from the previous year.

The implied per share price would value the stock at 88 times forecast earnings for this business year, double the ratio for Tokyo Disneyland operator Oriental Land Co. (4661.T)

Of the existing shares to be offered, Universal Studios Entertainment Japan Investment Company will sell 142,000, Crane Holdings Ltd. 85,143 shares, Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. (5405.T) 80,000 shares and Hitachi Zosen Corp. (7004.T) 40,000.

USJ issued 25 billion yen worth of preferred shares in 2005 to Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and the Development Bank of Japan to help it restructure. Goldman unit Crane is now USJ's top shareholder with 50.97 percent, according to a filing by USJ.

Nomura Securities, which is lead manager of the offering, will sell 50,000 additional shares if demand warrants an overallotment, or greenshoe, option.