Nigo’s Human Made Boosts Tokyo IPO Price

Human Made Inc., a Japanese streetwear firm founded by celebrity designer Nigo who created the A Bathing Ape (BAPE) fashion line, boosted the price of its initial share sale after solid investor demand.

The company set a price range of 3,000 yen to 3,130 yen for its upcoming sale of shares that will be listed in Tokyo, a regulatory filing shows. That compares with 2,920 yen, the estimated price it set earlier.

That means the initial public offering could raise as much as 17.8 billion yen ($116 million), according to Bloomberg calculations, including shares being sold by existing shareholders including Nigo and Pharrell Williams. The company will also issue new shares to raise funds to open new stores in Japan and cover other capital expenditures like e-commerce investments.

Nigo, whose real name is Tomoaki Nagao, served as the top designer at fashion house Kenzo, which is owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. The listing comes amid a resurgence of interest in Japanese pop culture fuelled by the popularity of anime and video games from Nintendo Co. and Sony Group Corp., which alongside the cheap yen, has been luring tourists to the Asian nation and lifting retail sales.

The deal would value Human Made at as much as 71.7 billion yen. The stock is expected to start trading on Nov. 27 on the Tokyo bourse after a pricing next week. Nomura Holdings Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. are the arrangers of the IPO.Investors such as Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management and MY.Alpha Management HK Advisors Ltd. have expressed interest in the IPO, according to the filing Monday. Asset Management One Co. will purchase some of the shares, the filing said.

By Yasutaka Tamura

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