Japan's Kokusai Electric to hold secondary offering; KKR to sell shares (updated)

Kokusai Electric

10/07/2024 08:01

(Recasts on announcement)
       TOKYO, July 10 (Reuters) - Kokusai Electric  6525.T 
said on Wednesday it would hold a secondary offering of up to
60.4 million shares, with investors including private equity
firm  KKR.N  to sell shares. 
    The secondary offering would be worth about 326 billion yen
($2.02 billion) including overallotment based on Wednesday's
closing price and follows a blistering run in the shares of the
Japanese chip equipment maker. 
    Kokusai, which closed down 8% in Tokyo on Wednesday after
Reuters reported the share sale plan, said it would buy back
shares worth up to 18 billion yen. 
        Kokusai has a market capitalisation of roughly $8.5
billion and its shares have gained about 75% year-to-date. 
    The company is targeting improved margins and investors are
rushing to back chip equipment manufacturers amid expectations
that investment in technology such as artificial intelligence
will boost the sector. 
    
    ($1 = 161.4600 yen)

 (Reporting by Sam Nussey; Additional reporting by Komiya
Kantaro; Editing by Jamie Freed and Tom Hogue)
 ((sam.nussey@tr.com;))