TOKYO: The Finance Ministry has announced the names of 2,102 listed Japanese companies subject to a stricter foreign investment rule.

Foreign businesses and individuals acquiring a stake of one percent or more in any of the listed firms, including  Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Toyota Motor Corp. and electronics and machinery maker Hitachi Ltd., will be required to notify the Japanese government beforehand.

Tokyo is moving to tighten regulations on foreign investment in national security-related Japanese firms. The list was announced on Friday.

The revised foreign exchange law containing the stricter rule took effect the same day, and the new regulation, covering more than half of the some 3,800 listed Japanese companies, will be applied from June 7.

Overseas investors will be exempted from the prior notification rule if they meet certain conditions, so as not to discourage them from investing in Japanese stocks.

But such conditions are tougher for 518 of the 2,102 firms in 12 sectors crucial to national security, such as weapons, aircraft, space, nuclear power, electricity, telecommunication and railway. Among the 518 companies are Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., mobile phone carrier NTT Docomo Inc. and East Japan Railway Co., as well as Mitsubishi Heavy, Toyota and Hitachi.

The revised law was enacted at an extraordinary session of the Diet, Japan's parliament, in autumn last year. Before the revision, the prior notification rule was applied to foreign investors acquiring a stake of 10 percent or more in national security-related listed firms.

JIJI Press