Bain-backed chipmaker Kioxia's shares rise in market debut (updated)

KIOXIA Holdings

18/12/2024 24:48

(Adds background on Kioxia from paragraph 4)
       SINGAPORE, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Shares of Kioxia  285A.T 
rose 3% in their market debut on Wednesday, valuing the
Bain-backed chipmaker at 807 billion yen  ($5.25 billion). 
    Kioxia, a major manufacturer of memory chips, raised 120
billion yen after pricing its IPO in the middle of the
indicative range at 1,455 yen per share. On Wednesday, it rose
as high as 1,504 yen before trading at 1,485. 
    Kioxia, formerly known as Toshiba Memory, was bought for 2
trillion yen in 2018 by a Bain-led consortium from Toshiba after
a long and contentious battle. Toshiba put the business up for
sale after plunging into crisis due to cost overruns at its
nuclear business.
    The road to the IPO has been an arduous one for Kioxia,
whose name is a combination of the Japanese word kioku meaning
"memory" and the Greek word axia meaning "value."
        The deal by the Bain consortium to acquire Kioxia, seen
as a prized asset at the time, was a landmark intervention by
private equity in Japan. 
  
        Uncertainty has continued since the sale, with Bain
postponing IPO plans two years later amid uncertainty in the
global chip market stemming from U.S-China tensions.
  
        An effort to merge Kioxia with partner Western Digital,
which had initially objected to the sale to the consortium,
stalled due to objections from the Japanese company's investor
SK Hynix  000660.KS .  
  
        Bain Capital 
    scrapped plans
     for an IPO of Kioxia in October after investors pushed the
buyout firm to almost halve the 1.5 trillion yen valuation it
was seeking, Reuters has reported.
  
 ($1 = 153.6800 yen)

 (Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore, Sam Nussey in Tokyo;
Editing by Himani Sarkar and Chris Reese)
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