TOKYO, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Kokusai Electric (6525.T) shares jumped 29% in their Tokyo market debut on Wednesday after private equity firm KKR sold shares in the chip equipment maker for $724 million in Japan's largest initial public offering (IPO) in five years.
The stock opened at 2,116 yen and climbed to a high of 2,371 yen, valuing the company at 546.3 billion yen ($3.65 billion), as investors grabbed shares following the rare IPO of a key chip tool manufacturer.
"The market for chip related stocks outside of AI is weak so some were wondering what would happen," said Tomoichiro Kubota, analyst at Matsui Securities.
KKR agreed to buy Hitachi's (6501.T) electronic equipment unit in 2017 in a deal valuing the business at 257 billion yen ($1.72 billion) as the conglomerate streamlined operations.
The private equity group then spun off Kokusai, which manufactures machines for depositing thin films on silicon wafers, the following year.
Persons:
telco, Tomoichiro Kubota, Kazuyoshi Saito, Warren Buffett, Sam Nussey, Miho Uranaka, Mayu, Makiko Yamazaki, Chang, Ran Kim, Sonali Paul
Organizations:
KKR, telco SoftBank Corp, Matsui Securities, Reuters, Iwai Cosmo Securities, Materials, Equity, Thomson
Locations:
TOKYO, Tokyo, China, Japan