Kioxia's Stock Jumps on Tokyo Debut, Despite Bumps on the Road

Kioxia, Japan's third-largest maker of flash memory products, had a successful first day of trading in Tokyo. Its shares rose by 10 percent, ending at ¥1, 601. This comes after a long and bumpy journey for the chipmaker, formerly known as Toshiba Memory. Six years ago, Bain Capital bought Kioxia from Toshiba during the conglomerate's financial crisis. This deal was massive for private equity in Asia. Now, Kioxia is finally public after previous listing attempts failed due to the pandemic and trade frictions.

Earlier this year, a merger with rival Western Digital fell through. Despite these obstacles, Kioxia's IPO was the third largest in Japan this year. However, it opened lower than the offering price, which was a disappointment for Bain. The company's initial market capitalization was ¥796bn ($5. 2bn), far less than the $18bn Bain paid in 2018. Kioxia's revenue has dropped 30 percent in the last two years, with an operating loss of ¥252bn. For Bain and other private equity groups, Japan is a gold mine for deals. Companies are under pressure to sell non-core businesses and assets. Bain is currently in a heated battle with KKR over Fuji Soft, an IT firm with substantial real estate.

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