Japan to Sell Part of Tobacco Company Shares to Raise $10 Billion

Money will be used for tsunami reconstruction

Japan's government will sell around a third of its stake in Japan Tobacco Inc (2914.T), the world's No.3 tobacco company, to raise about $10.4 billion for reconstruction of areas devastated by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The Ministry of Finance, which owns just over 50 percent of the $62 billion former state monopoly, is selling 333 million shares, according to a regulatory filing on Monday, with the deal to be priced between March 11-13.

The offering, the largest such deal since the U.S. Treasury's $20.7 billion sale of American International Group Inc (AIG.N) shares in September, comes as Japanese equities scale their highest levels in more than four years.