Japan Display Inc, a supplier of screens for Apple Inc devices, and its owners are seeking ¥389.3 billion (US$3.8 billion) in an initial public offering (IPO).
Japan Display will sell shares at ¥900 to ¥1,100 apiece in the offering, according to a filing with Japan’s Ministry of Finance yesterday.
The company will sell 140 million new shares, while investors including Sony Corp are offering 213.9 million existing shares, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg News on Feb. 14.
The IPO offers a partial exit for state-backed Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ), which bought a 70 percent stake in the company for ¥200 billion in 2012.
Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd — the maker of Orangina soda — completed a US$3.8 billion first-time share sale in June, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Japanese stocks were the best performers among major Asian markets over the past year, encouraging investors such as Bain Capital LLC and Cerberus Capital Management LP to recoup funds through first-time share sales.
Nomura Holdings Inc, the country’s No. 1 equity underwriter last year, expects IPOs will almost double to ¥1 trillion this year.
Shares of Japan Display will start trading in Tokyo on March 19, according to the terms obtained last month. Nomura, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc are joint global coordinators for the offering, the terms show. Bank of America Corp, Deutsche Bank AG and UBS AG are also among banks helping manage the sale.
Japan Display was created when Sony, Toshiba Corp and Hitachi Ltd spun off their panel businesses to INCJ after struggling to compete in the television display market.
INCJ, as the government-backed fund is known, was founded in July 2009 to invest in technology that would make Japan’s industries more globally competitive.
It has invested about ¥700 billion in 57 projects as it focuses on energy, electronics, information technology and biotechnology, it said in a statement issued on Feb. 12.
The fund has ¥280 billion of funds from the government and companies, and has the capacity to invest as much as ¥2 trillion backed by Japanese government guarantees, its Web site shows.
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