TOKYO, Jan 26 Reuters Tokyo Metro Co, which operates most of the Japanese capital39;s subway system, is set to go public a major privatisation effort by Japan as it seeks to take advantage of a stock market that has shot to 34year peaks.

The company, which is 53.4 owned by the central government with the rest held by the Tokyo government, will be listed in the financial year that begins in April.

Half the company is slated to be sold with each government planning to sell half their stakes, according to a 2022 government document that laid out plans for the offering.

A Tokyo Metro IPO could raise about 300 billion yen 2 billion, the finance ministry said in 2022. No updated guidance on the fundraising amount sought was given on Friday.

The central government plans to use the proceeds from its portion of the sale to fund recovery efforts from the massive earthquake that struck the Fukushima area and other parts of northeastern Japan in 2011.

The railway company carries 5.95 million passengers each day on average over a 195 kilometre network of tracks. It posted a net profit of 24.2 billion yen in the AprilSeptember period on sales of 40.4 billion yen.

The IPO is likely to attract individual investors, especially given the government39;s recent overhaul of a taxfree stock investment programme, said Seiichi Suzuki, chief equity market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

Tokyo Metro is also a public transport system which is a easy stock for individual…