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TOKYO :Shares in Japanese chip materials maker JSR Corp jumped 4.6 per cent to 4,238 yen in early Tokyo trading on Monday following a media report that state-backed fund Japan Investment Corp (JIC) plans to launch a tender offer for the shares this month.
JSR, a major maker of photoresists used in chipmaking, announced last June it would be acquired by JIC, which is overseen by Japan’s industry ministry, in a $6.4 billion deal aimed at driving consolidation within the sector.
The tender offer was slated to begin at the end of last year but JIC in December postponed it to late February at the earliest, citing a delay in a Chinese antitrust review as the reason. It said it would update if the offer had not begun by March-end.
Negotiations with Chinese authorities are now on track with JIC planning to launch the tender offer this month, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported without citing sources.
JIC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. JSR said it has not made an announcement and will make disclosures when appropriate.
JSR shares have been trading at a discount to the tender offer price of 4,350 yen per share, reflecting investor doubts about whether the deal will achieve regulatory approval.
JIC’s CEO Keisuke Yokoo said in December there were no issues with the Chinese regulator. “We expect it to be done by March-end of the current financial year,” he said.
Regulatory approval in China, where JSR made around 18 per cent of its sales in the last financial year, is seen as the tightest bottleneck for the buyout by JIC, which is also leading a group to purchase chip packaging business Shinko Electric for $4.7 billion.
The JSR go-private deal is controversial in the industry, with executives and analysts questioning the company’s prospects of driving dealmaking in the materials sector, where Japanese companies retain a leading role as suppliers in the global chip supply chain.
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