world war ii destroyed most of sumitomo's industrial infrastructure within japan, and the ensuing allied occupation led to the forced breakup of the largest japanese companies, including sumitomo. sumitomo building transitioned to general trading, looking to handle products from japan's major manufacturing firms in various industries, and changed its name to nippon engineering co., ltd. ("nihon kensetsu sangyo kaisha"), starting a new existence as a general trading firm with a sales staff of just 32 people. the firm listed its shares on the osaka, tokyo and nagoya stock exchanges in 1949.