Japan's ispace shares left untraded during market debut

Bids of over double lunar explorer's offer price found no sellers

20230412 Ispace

Japanese company ispace's lunar lander is due to touch down on the northeast of the moon on April 26. © Ispace/Kyodo

MITSURU OBE, Nikkei Asia chief business news correspondent

TOKYO -- Shares in Japan's ispace were not traded in their market debut in Tokyo on Wednesday, even though bidders offered more than double the IPO price of the lunar exploration company, which aims to put the world's first commercial lander on the moon.

The listing was the first initial public offering by a space startup in Japan, marking a milestone in the country's push to build up a self-sustaining commercial space business. Traditional space companies in Japan are still heavily dependent on the government space program for revenues.

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