Japan Post Holdings Co Ltd said that they plan to raise JPY4 trillion or an estimated US$40 billion through an offering of the company's shares to the public. Japan Post said that they plan to move the launch of the much anticipated initial public offering to spring of 2015. Japan Post asked brokers to gauge on the market demand for the public offering. Brokers were able to source that the market can absorb an estimated JPY2 trillion to JPY4 trillion worth of shares.  

Japan Post is set to go into a tie-up with American Family Life Assurance Co for the sale of Aflac's cancer insurance products through thousands of post offices located nationwide. Japan's government originally planned to the public offer of Japan Post Holdings' shares to launch September or October 2015. The IPO will raise money to be used for the reconstruction of areas that were devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

"Now we are aiming at spring of 2015", Japan Post President Taizou Nishimuro said. "We will prepare for the IPO in an expeditious manner."

Japan Post handles the country's largest banking and insurance operations, which overshadows non-state lenders and insurance agencies.