KKR & Co. is set to raise up to ¥108 billion ($728 million) through the sale of shares in Japanese chip-equipment maker Kokusai Electric Corp., which set a price range for its initial public offering that was below its earlier guidance.
(Bloomberg) — KKR & Co. is set to raise up to ¥108 billion ($728 million) through the sale of shares in Japanese chip-equipment maker Kokusai Electric Corp., which set a price range for its initial public offering that was below its earlier guidance.
Kokusai’s IPO price range was set at ¥1,830-1,840 per share, according to a filing with Japan’s Finance Ministry on Tuesday, below last month’s indicative price of ¥1,890. KKR is selling 58.8 million shares in the company.
Even if shares are sold at the bottom of the range, Kokusai’s offering would still be the largest in Japan since SoftBank Corp.’s ¥2.4 trillion listing in December 2018. IPO proceeds in Tokyo so far this year have reached $3.2 billion, more than double the amount for the same period in 2022, as the country’s world-beating stock rally increases appetite for new shares at a time of slow IPO activity globally.
Kokusai Electric was spun out of Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. after KKR bought the mobile phone and wireless equipment manufacturer in a tender offer in 2018. A year later, California-based semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials Inc. agreed to buy Kokusai Electric, but the deal was scuttled after it failed to win approval from Chinese regulators. The Qatar Investment Authority this year acquired a minority stake in the Japanese chip-gear company.
The final price for Kokusai shares will be determined on Oct. 16, with listing expected on Oct. 25.
–With assistance from Fion Li.
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