TOKYO, Japan -- Pacific Golf Group International Holdings KK, which operates golf courses in Japan, has been approved to launch an Initial Public Offering and list its stock on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, exchange officials have announced.

The company will begin trading on Dec. 15.

The IPO marks a partial exit by the Texas-based private equity fund Lone Star Group, which plans to sell 297,000 of its shares, approximately 30 percent of its stake in Pacific Golf Group. The remainder of the 357,000 shares available to the public are newly issued shares.

The four-year-old Pacific Golf Group operates 92 courses, including the Prestige Country Golf Club in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, which was ranked eighth among Japan's top 100 golf courses in the first half of 2005 by Golf Digest Online.

Lone Star, which also owns the Japanese ski resort and hotel company Solare Hotels & Resorts, expects to earn approximately $309.7 million from the IPO, according to published reports, though the size of the flotation could increase if another 53,000 shares in an over-allotment plan become available.

The final IPO price will be set Dec. 6, after a Nov. 29-Dec. 5 book-building period, officials said.