(Bloomberg) -- Japanese memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings Corp. is pushing back plans for an initial public offering until later this year after a downturn in semiconductor stocks.
Kioxia, which is majority-owned by private equity firm Bain Capital, is now targeting no earlier than November or December instead of October, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The IPO, which Bloomberg reported could raise about $500 million, is widely expected to be Japan’s biggest this year.
“We are preparing for an IPO at the appropriate time,” a Kioxia spokesperson said Tuesday, declining to comment further. A representative of Bain declined to comment.
Bain took control of Kioxia in 2018 as Toshiba Corp. spun off its crown-jewel memory business to pay for a disastrous foray into nuclear power. The US private equity firm has struggled to cash in on the deal, attempting and then scrapping a public offering as far back as October 2020.
Kioxia’s fallen technologically behind Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc., leaving it more vulnerable in the next downturn. A prolonged slump in NAND prices has eaten into the Japanese company’s ability to invest in research and development and in new capacity.
Kioxia had been seeking an IPO to raise money to ramp up and to capitalize on a rally in chip prices. Bain had been targeting a market value of ¥1.5 trillion ($10 billion) for Kioxia but recent declines in the stock prices of its competitors has made that pricing challenging, Reuters reported earlier.
Kioxia has been struggling to win market share in AI data centers and wean itself off reliance on smartphone chip demand. Weak prices of NAND hurts Kioxia more than its rivals, which have revenues from other products such as artificial intelligence-supporting DRAM.
“This is not the first time this IPO has been shelved,” said Rafael Nemet-Nejat, a senior portfolio manager at Jin Investment Management Pte. “They will likely try to list again in the future. The Japanese IPO market is very healthy, illustrated by the recent launches of Rigaku and Tokyo Metro.”
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
