TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Metro Co. made an impressive debut on the Tokyo stock market on Wednesday, briefly surging 47.3 percent above the offering price of 1,200 yen ($7.9) in Japan's biggest initial public offering in six years.

The IPO put Tokyo Metro's market capitalization at around 1.01 trillion yen, making it the seventh largest railway operator in the country in terms of total market value as of Wednesday.

The share price of Asia's oldest subway operator closed at 1,739 yen after opening at 1,630 yen on the first day of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's top-tier Prime Market.

Tokyo Metro, the country's second-largest railway company by passenger volume, drew massive buy orders primarily from individual investors seeking stability and dividends. It took around an hour to reach the initial price after the market opened at 9 a.m.

"We believe the listing serves as a foundation for further management reforms and allows us to enter a new stage," Tokyo Metro President Akiyoshi Yamamura said in a news conference after Wednesday's trading ended.

The subway operator raised 348.6 billion yen in the IPO, with the central government and the Tokyo government selling half of their respective holdings of 53.4 percent and 46.6 percent at 1,200 yen per share.

The central government will use its proceeds from the sale of Tokyo Metro shares to repay bonds issued to fund reconstruction efforts following the devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami that struck northeastern Japan in March 2011.

Tokyo Metro was formed in 2004 from a public sector-backed entity as part of privatization efforts, though all of its shares had been held by the central and metropolitan governments.

Both the market cap and the value of the share offering are the highest in Japan since SoftBank Group Corp. in December 2018 listed its telecom unit, whose market value totaled 7.18 trillion yen, according to data provider Dealogic. SoftBank Group raised 2.65 trillion yen in Japan's biggest-ever IPO.

"Demand for Tokyo Metro's shares among individual investors appears to be robust due to its stable earnings and favorable dividend yield," said Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at the NLI Research Institute.

The dividend per share is estimated at 40 yen for the business year ending in March 2025, setting the dividend yield at 3.3 percent based on the offering price.

In an attempt to attract more individual investors, Tokyo Metro will offer shareholder benefits, including free train tickets, depending on the number of stocks they hold.

However, Ide warned that the subway operator's stock may be sold after initial buying subsides, as the dividend yield has dropped below 3 percent as a result of the price gain.

Tokyo Metro operates nine subway lines connecting 180 stations across the capital and carried 1.9 billion passengers in the year ended March 2022, the second highest after East Japan Railway Co. Its operations also include real estate, retail and telecommunications businesses.

As the railway business accounted for around 90 percent of the company's sales in the business year ended in March, analysts have expressed doubts about its growth going forward.

"We do not expect significant growth potential for Tokyo Metro, as it is challenging to build new lines and boost earnings from its real estate business," Ide said.

Yamamura, however, stressed at the press conference the advantage of Tokyo Metro's railway segment focused on the center of the capital, where the population is expected to grow until 2035 and where development projects are active.

"We aim to grow the non-railway sector by facilitating synergy with the railway business," the president said.