Kioxia to file registration statement for December IPO, sources say

By Miho Uranaka and Sam Nussey

TOKYO (Reuters) – Bain Capital-backed Kioxia plans to file a registration statement as soon as Friday which will allow the Japanese chipmaker to sound out investors for an initial public offering in December, two people familiar with the matter said.

Bain scrapped plans for an IPO in October after investors pushed the U.S. buyout firm to almost halve the 1.5 trillion yen ($9.79 billion) valuation it was seeking, Reuters reported.

Kioxia would be the first company to use new rules that allow firms to test investor appetite before seeking listing approval from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the people said, declining to be identified as the information is not public.

The chipmaker expects to receive approval from the bourse in late November, the people said, with the indicative price for the shares disclosed at that time.

The schedule for the IPO is left flexible in the filings under the new rules.

Kioxia said it was planning for an IPO at the appropriate time but that it could not comment further at this time. Bain declined to comment.

While the Japanese stock market has been volatile in recent months, investors globally are reassessing the outlook for chip-sector firms as the U.S. transitions to a new government under Donald Trump, whose policies shook up global trade in his first term.

Kioxia, formerly Toshiba (OTC:) Memory, has been hammered by a downturn in the market for memory chips with the industry debating the durability of a recent recovery in prices.

A Bain-led consortium acquired Kioxia from scandal-hit Toshiba six years ago for 2 trillion yen.

The chipmaker is readying capacity expansion on the back of the boom in chips for artificial intelligence applications.

($1 = 153.2200 yen)