Universal Studios Japan Plans Tokyo Listing

TOKYO — USJ, the company that operates the Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka, plans to list its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as early as September, pending TSE approval. The exact value of the shares to be listed has not yet been revealed.

In 2007 USJ listed on the TSE’s Mothers market for start-ups, but when the USJ park struggled to turn a profit, USJ’s largest shareholder, an investment fund affiliated with Goldman Sachs, launched a takeover bid and trading on USJ shares halted in 2009.

The company’s fortunes have since revived with the addition of new attractions, including the popular Harry Potter area, and the recovery of the Japanese economy. Attendance reached a record-setting 12.7 million in 2014. For the fiscal year ending in March, 2014 sales rose 17 percent year-on-year to $772 million, while ordinary profit soared 48 percent to $192 million — another all-time record.

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