Japan's government has been in preparation to make sale of almost 17% of long-held state asset Japan Tobacco, expected to fetch up to about %10 billion, according to sources.

The Japanese has 50% of the stake Japan Tobacco, which sells cigarette brands including Bension & Hedges cigarettes, Camel, Winston and Mild Seven.

The sale is expected to become the 4^th portion of the company's shares offered by the government since Japan entered the international competition in the tobacco market.

The government's decision of the sale is somehow influenced by criticisms that the country remains stagnant in solving the smoking rate in Japanese citizens, according to people familiar with the issue.

The cigarette manufacturing company was a state monopoly until 1985 when it was converted into a public company.