A running monitor of Japanese companies listing on Nasdaq and the NYSE: the current IPO pipeline, deals on file with the SEC, and how the names that already listed are trading against their offer price.
Most Japanese microcaps that list on Nasdaq end up far below their offer price; one name is the exception. What the cohort's returns really look like.
A few retail-facing bookrunners run most of these deals. D. Boral Capital (formerly EF Hutton) and Kingswood have each led several of the listed names — and what that concentration signals.
F-1 ADR, S-1 as a US-domestic filer, a Cayman holdco, or a KK direct listing — the four routes Japanese issuers actually use, with live examples of each.
On a $4–10M raise, the vendor stack — bookrunner, PCAOB auditor, US and Japanese counsel — is a large fixed cost. What it looks like on real deals.
The case for a Nasdaq listing is real. So is the base rate: most Japanese names that list end up well below their offer. The pipeline stays full regardless.
Listing is the start of the work. Three names have reverse-split to hold the $1 rule; five have delisted. What Nasdaq actually requires after the bell.
Bookrunner, PCAOB auditor, US counsel, Japanese counsel, transfer agent/IR. The five-part template every deal copies — decomposed with the firms that actually appear.
The comment-letter cycle is where deals stall or die. MTRS ended in a Form RW; ZRSP and CTMB lapsed under SEC staff action. How to read the process from the outside.
In May 2024 the SEC barred BF Borgers as a 'sham audit mill.' Three tracked names — WRNT, LRE, ZRSP — had used it. Why the auditor is a precondition, not a line item.