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TOKYO, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Chip equipment maker Kokusai Electric (6525.T) has raised $724.4 million after pricing its shares at the top end of their marketed range in Japan's largest initial public offering in five years. Kokusai, owned by U.S. private equity firm KKR (KKR.N), set its IPO price at 1,840 yen per share, according to a filing on Monday, valuing the company at 423.9 billion yen ($2.8 billion). If an overallotment option for domestic investors is exercised, the offering would raise roughly $833 million. The move was partly due to a lacklustre share price performance by chip designer Arm since its listing last month, a source familiar with the matter has said. Kokusai's largest customers are Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), TSMC (2330.TW) and Micron Technology (MU.O), collectively accounting for more than 40% of its revenue.

Persons: Mariko Katsumura, Sam Nussey, Miho Uranaka, Kim Coghill, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Kokusai, U.S, KKR, Tokyo bourse's, Samsung Electronics, Micron Technology, Thomson Locations: TOKYO

The logo of Toshiba Corporation is displayed at the company's building in Kawasaki, Japan, April 5, 2023. The top two deals this year, Toshiba Corp (6502.T) and JSR Corp (4185.T), had activists on their rosters. The strong M&A market comes as two long-standing obstacles to Japanese dealmaking - reluctance towards unsolicited takeovers and difficulties in cutting overlapping jobs in post merger integrations - may be fading. "Previously, excess employment issues held back M&A, because cutting overlapping headcount is the primary way M&A cuts costs and raises returns," Smith said. "As the labour shortage bites, expect M&A to surge as companies start being targeted as labour reservoirs."

Persons: Androniki, LSEG, David Gross, Loh, Jim Verbeeten, Shinsuke Tsunoda, " Bain Capital's Gross, Nicholas Smith, Smith, Makiko Yamazaki, Kane Wu, Sumeet Chatterjee, Stephen Coates Organizations: Toshiba Corporation, REUTERS, Toshiba, Bain Capital Asia, Bankers, Tokyo bourse, Toshiba Corp, JSR, Bain & Company, Nomura Securities, Marelli Holdings, KKR, Nidec Corp, Thomson Locations: Kawasaki, Japan, TOKYO, HONG KONG, Tokyo

☆ Japan's Simplex launches first ETFs focused on stocks below book value
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A woman uses a mobile phone in front of an electric board displaying the Nikkei stock average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan June 14, 2023. Some 189 companies in the Topix 500 (.TOPX500) trade below book value, compared to 17 in the S&P 500 (.SPX), according to Simplex. The funds launch next week and are focused on the areas of the market where many investors see the most potential. One of the funds, Simplex PBR Improvement over 1x ETF (2080.T), will contain about 500 stocks that average 0.7 times their book value. Simplex is also launching a third ETF (2082.T) focused on stocks where executive pay is tied to corporate performance.

Persons: Kim Kyung, Hiromasa Mizushima, Junko Fujita, Tom Westbrook, Miral Organizations: Nikkei, REUTERS, Rights, Simplex, Management, Japan's Nikkei, Tokyo bourse, Simplex Asset Management, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan

July 24 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group (9984.T) is forming a joint venture with warehouse automation company Symbotic (SYM.O) to build AI-powered warehouses that will be majority owned by the Japanese technology investor, the companies said on Monday. The unit has also signed a contract to buy AI-powered systems from Symbotic that will be worth $7.5 billion in the next six years. Based in Wilmington, Massachusetts, Symbotic provides robotics warehouse automation solutions and counts Walmart (WMT.N) as its major backer and customer. The Japanese company will have a 65% stake in GreenBox, with Symbotic owning the rest. For fiscal year 2022, Symbotic reported revenue of $593.3 million, up 136% year over year, with a loss of $139.1 million.

Persons: Symbotic, Rick Cohen, upping, Masayoshi Son, Zaheer Kachwala, Krystal Hu, Shailesh Kuber, Anil D'Silva, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: SoftBank, Systems, SoftBank Group Corp, Walmart, JV, Tokyo bourse, Thomson Locations: SoftBank, Wilmington , Massachusetts, Tokyo, GreenBox

☆ SoftBank forms JV to build AI-powered warehouses with Symbotic
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 24 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group (9984.T) is forming a joint venture with supply-chain services provider Symbotic to build AI-powered warehouses that will be majority owned by the Japanese technology investor, the companies said on Monday. The firms are investing a total of $100 million in the venture, which will be called GreenBox Systems. The unit has also signed a contract to buy AI-powered systems worth $7.5 billion for its warehouses from Symbotic. The deal will give SoftBank, already an investor in Symbotic, warrants representing about 2% of the U.S. company's outstanding shares. The Japanese firm said it had also bought 17.8 million shares of Symbotic from CEO Rick Cohen.

Persons: Rick Cohen, Masayoshi Son, Vikas Parekh, Greenbox, Symbotic, Zaheer Kachwala, Shailesh Kuber, Anil D'Silva Organizations: SoftBank, Systems, Tokyo bourse, SoftBank Investment, JV, Thomson Locations: Symbotic, Tokyo, GreenBox

☆ Japan optimism has been fueled by 'game-changing' reforms and Warren Buffett: Here's what you need to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The Tokyo Exchange Group recently finalized its market restructuring rules. Warren Buffett's bullish calls on Japanese equities has also helped boost confidence among foreign investors. It could in turn lead to a domino effect among other Japanese companies once the big players start to make changes. Corporate governance is the "third arrow" of the three core tenets of Abenomics — monetary easing and fiscal stimulus are the other two. Buffett's May disclosures helped spur 10 straight weeks of net foreign purchases of Japanese equities.

Persons: Richard A, Brooks, Oliver Lee, Warren Buffett's bullish, —, Yunosuke Ikeda, Nomura's Ikeda, Shinzo Abe, Warren, Berkshire, Asli, Shuntaro Takeuchi, Matthews Asia, Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, that's, Matthews Asia's Takeuchi, We're, Oliver Lee Eastspring, Eastspring's Lee Organizations: Afp, Getty, Nikkei, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Tokyo Exchange Group, CNBC, Tokyo bourse, Berkshire Hathaway, Kyoto, Investing, Buffett, Foreigners, Japan Ministry of Finance, Kyoto University's Graduate School of Management, Graduate School of Economics, Mitsui & Co, Hitachi Locations: Japan, Tokyo, Singapore, Abenomics, San Francisco

☆ Japanese shares end higher on Wall Street gains, financials weigh
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Nikkei share average (.N225) rose 0.65% to close at 26,405.87, while the broader Topix (.TOPX) edged up 0.24% at 1,902.52. "Japanese shares rose because U.S. equities gained at the end of last week, but the trading is very quiet with most participants in the U.S. and Europe away for holidays," said Shuji Hosoi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities. Heavyweight Fast Retailing (9983.T), owner of the Uniqlo brand, rose 2.0% and chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron (8035.T) gained 2.22%. "The 10-year government bond yield hovers below the top end of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) policy band, which prompted a sell-off of banking shares," Hosoi said. The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo bourse's main board was 0.85 billion, compared to the average of 1.25 billion in the past 30 days.

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