TOKYO :Kokusai Electric said on Wednesday it would hold a secondary offering of up to 60.4 million shares, with investors including private equity firm to sell shares.
The secondary offering would be worth about 326 billion yen ($2.02 billion) including overallotment based on Wednesday’s closing price and follows a blistering run in the shares of the Japanese chip equipment maker.
Kokusai, which closed down 8 per cent in Tokyo on Wednesday after Reuters reported the share sale plan, said it would buy back shares worth up to 18 billion yen.
Including overallotment KKR’s stake would fall to 23 per cent from around 43 per cent previously.
Kokusai has a market capitalisation of roughly $8.5 billion and its shares have gained about 75 per cent year-to-date.
The company is targeting improved margins and investors are rushing to back chip equipment manufacturers amid expectations that investment in technology such as artificial intelligence will boost the sector.
($1 = 161.4600 yen)
From: channelnewsasia
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