Bain Capital is pressing ahead with its revived plans for an initial public offering of chipmaker Kioxia Holdings Corp. that could raise about $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bain is working with investment banks on the renewed attempt to list the Japanese NAND flash memory business, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Kioxia could kick off the IPO as soon as the coming weeks, the people said.

Considerations are ongoing and details of the IPO could change depending on market conditions, the people said. A representative for Bain declined to comment.

The Nikkei reported on Friday that Kioxia has filed for an October IPO, and the company is expected to command a valuation of more than 1.5 trillion yen ($10.3 billion).

At $500 million, Kioxia’s IPO would be the biggest in Japan since KKR & Co.-backed semiconductor equipment company Kokusai Electric Corp.’s $1.5 billion listing in October last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Kokusai Electric’s shares have more than doubled from their offer price.

“The timing on this is very good,” Andrew Jackson, head of Japan equity strategy at Ortus Advisors, said, citing the outlook for memory and other industry peers.

“I think the IPO itself will do very well,” Jackson said. “Obviously this is price dependent but the backdrop for memory is buoyant and I’m telling clients to get as much as they can get their hands on.”

Bain, which led a group investors in acquiring Kioxia from Toshiba Corp. for $18 billion in 2018, has considered listing Kioxia in the past.

A fresh attempt to sell shares in Kioxia would capitalize on a surge in domestic semiconductor listings. It comes after on-again-off-again merger talks between the chipmaker and Western Digital Corp. collapsed last year.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index has gained almost 15% this year.

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved