* Sets tentative price range at 125,000-155,000 yen/shr
* Compares with initial reference price of 150,000 yen
* IPO will be worth up to 1.1 trln yen at top of range (Adds comments from a fund manager)
By Junko Fujita
TOKYO, March 8 (Reuters) - Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance said its IPO -- likely to be the second biggest on record -- would raise as much as 1.1 trillion yen ($12 billion) at the top of a tentative price range, roughly in line with expectations.
The offering, the world's largest after credit card firm Visa Inc's $19.7 billion IPO in 2008, comes after Japan's IPO market fell to a near two-decade low last year.
Japan's No.2 life insurer, which is set to raise almost 19 times more money than the combined total of the 20 firms which debuted last year, said it would price the shares at 125,000-155,000 yen ($1,385-$1,717) each, against an initial reference price of 150,000 yen announced last month.
"The price range looks good," said Fujio Ando, an adviser for Chibagin Asset Management. "By setting what seems to be a conservative range, there will be less risk that the market debut flops."
The life insurer said it would gauge demand from investors from Tuesday and set a final price on March 19.
At the top of the tentative range, Dai-ichi would have a market value of 1.55 trillion yen.
Dai-ichi had said earlier that Japanese firms such as Mizuho Corporate Bank, Sompo Japan Insurance Inc and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ would buy 2.1 million shares, helping establish a stable shareholder base.
Japanese IPOs slumped 58 percent to 57.5 billion yen last year to their lowest since 1992, but even before the global financial rout, appetite for market debuts in Tokyo, especially small-cap stocks, had shrunk since Internet firm Livedoor was hit by an accounting scandal in 2006.
Dai-ichi Life plans to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on April 1. (Additional reporting by Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)