(Bloomberg) — KKR & Co. plans to sell about half its stake in newly listed Kokusai Electric Corp. to secure returns from a recovery that more than tripled the Japanese chip equipment maker’s share price.
Bloomberg’s Most Read
Private equity firm KKR plans to sell the shares to investors, and Kokusai will buy back those shares in the market, Reuters said, citing a person familiar with the matter. KKR owns about 43% of Kokusai Electric, Reuters said.
Shares of the film deposition equipment maker have soared since its debut in October, thanks in part to growing investor interest in chipmaking as a way to build infrastructure to support artificial intelligence.
Representatives for KKR and Kokusai Electric declined to comment. Kokusai Electric shares closed up 5.4% in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Kokusai Electric’s debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange last fall — the country’s biggest listing since 2018 — coincided with growing global awareness of the importance of chipmaking as a means of controlling AI and supercomputing.
The Qatar Investment Authority acquired a minority stake in Kokusai Electric, which was spun off from Hitachi Kokusai Electric after KKR bought the mobile phone and wireless equipment maker in a public offering in 2017.
In 2019, California-based Applied Materials Inc. agreed to buy smaller Tokyo-based Kokusai Electric, but the deal was scuttled after it failed to win approval from Chinese regulators. Both companies compete with Tokyo Electron Ltd. and supply the world’s largest chipmakers, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
(Updates with history and closing price of shares in the third paragraph)
Bloomberg Businessweek Most Read
©2024 Bloomberg LP
