Japan's Kioxia, formerly Toshiba Memory, aims for Sept IPO: report

[TOKYO] Japan's Kioxia Holdings, the world's second largest maker of flash memory chips and formerly known as Toshiba Memory, plans an initial public offering as early as in September, weekly financial magazine Diamond reported on Thursday.

Kioxia last year shelved plans to offer up to 334.3 billion yen (S$4 billion) in shares, which would have been Japan's largest IPO of 2020, amid heightened trade frictions between China and the United States.

The Tokyo bourse is expected to give its approval in July, the report said, citing sources.

A Kioxia spokesperson on Thursday said the firm was "aiming to IPO at the appropriate time" but declined to comment further.

Media reports previously cited interest from rivals such as Micron Technology Inc and Western Digital Corp.

Kioxia is controlled by private equity firm Bain Capital, after a financial crisis forced Toshiba Corp to sell a majority stake in the business.

The Japanese conglomerate, which is embroiled in a corporate governance scandal, now has a 40.6 per cent stake.

Toshiba shares rose 0.4 per cent to 4,860 yen by mid-morning trade.

REUTERS