Kioxia Shines on Tokyo Stock Exchange Debut, Raising $800 Million in IPO
Shares of Japan’s Kioxia, the world’s third largest manufacturer of NAND flash memory chips, skyrocketed 10% on its debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday, after raising over 120 billion yen ($800 million) in its initial public offering (IPO).
The company’s shares closed at 1,601 yen, above the offer price of 1,455 yen per share, which was the midpoint of its IPO price band ranging from 1,390-1,520 yen. Kioxia initially offered 71.8 million shares, but later exercised an overallotment option to issue an additional 10.79 million shares.
The IPO consisted of Kioxia issuing new shares, as well as a sale of shares from major shareholders Bain Capital and Toshiba. To meet listing requirements on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime market, Kioxia requested its major shareholders to sell more shares. The ratio of shares in the market is currently at 28.09%, below the Prime market’s requirements of 35%.
This is not Kioxia’s first attempt at listing on a public market. In 2020, the company postponed its IPO plans due to market volatility and concerns about a second wave of the pandemic. Reuters reported that Bain scrapped its plan for an IPO in October 2020 due to a sell-off in Japanese stocks, which made the 1.5-trillion-yen valuation it had been targeting challenging.