Kokusai Electric, a Japanese chip tool company, intends to go public on October 25.
As the company simplified operations, KKR agreed to buy Hitachi’s electronic equipment unit in 2017 for 257 billion yen.
Kokusai Electric, a supplier of chipmaking equipment, announced on Thursday that it aims to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on October 25, setting the stage for what may be Japan’s largest initial public offering (IPO) in five years.
Kokusai has set a preliminary IPO price of 1,890 yen per share.
As the company simplified operations, KKR agreed to buy Hitachi’s electronic equipment unit in 2017 for 257 billion yen.
The following year, the private equity group spun off Kokusai, which develops machines for depositing thin coatings on silicon wafers.
KKR attempted to sell Kokusai to Applied Materials in 2019, but the $3.5 billion deal fell through due to a lack of regulatory approval in China.
A successful listing would follow SoftBank-owned chip manufacturer Arm’s big New York IPO, which investors thought would spark a wave of stock market listings.
In Japan, where the stock market is at 33-year highs and interest rates are ultra-low, IPO activity has remained strong.
