Japan Airlines Co to debut as the world second biggest IPO after Facebook, at a staggering $8.5 billion

Japan Airlines Co. (9201)’s 663 billion yen ($8.5 billion) initial public offering, the largest since Facebook Inc. (FB), drew orders for all the stock being sold, said two people with knowledge of the transaction.

The Tokyo-based carrier’s government-backed parent is offering 175 million shares for 3,500 yen to 3,790 yen apiece. International investors, which will be allocated about 25 percent of the IPO shares, already put in orders for about twice that amount, said one person, who declined to be identified because the information is private. The other 75 percent, set to be sold to Japanese institutional and retail investors, is also covered, the person said.

JAL’s IPO, if successful, would complete a state-sponsored turnaround since it filed bankruptcy protection in 2010. It’s returning to the Tokyo stock exchange after shedding a third of its workforce, scrapping routes and retiring old planes in a restructuring that brought the carrier back to profit.

The final price for the IPO, Japan’s second-biggest in more than a decade, will be decided on Sept. 10, according to a company statement in August. The shares will start trading on Sept. 19. JAL is set to surpass ANA as Japan’s biggest carrier by market value and as the fourth largest worldwide behind Latam Airlines Group SA, Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) and Air China Ltd. (753)