TOKYO--Japan Display Inc. plans to raise as much as Y200 billion
on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by March in an initial public offering,
people with knowledge of the deal said Friday.
The listing would value the world's biggest maker of displays
for smartphones and tablets at between Y700 and Y800 billion, one
of the people said.
The company, formed from the loss-making liquid crystal display
units of Hitachi Ltd. (6501.TO), Toshiba Corp. (6502.TO) and Sony
Corp. (6758.TO), is 70% owned by the state-backed fund Innovation
Network Corp. of Japan. The INCJ plans to retain a stake in Japan
Display after the IPO, according to one of the people.
In a statement, Japan Display said it is considering listing its
stock in the future, but added there was nothing specific to
announce at this point.
Since its establishment in 2012, the company set out to
diversify its customers and now makes displays for Apple Inc.'s
(AAPL) latest iPhone, Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Nexus 7 tablet, and is
slated to make panels for Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) Kindle Fire
electronic reader, according to people familiar with the
industry.
Japan Display hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Nomura
Holdings Inc. (8604.TO), and Morgan Stanley (MS) as joint global
coordinators on the IPO, according to one of the people with
knowledge of the deal.
-Daisuke Wakabayashi contributed to this article.
Write to Mayumi Negishi at mayumi.negishi@wsj.com and Kana
Inagaki at kana.inagaki@wsj.com
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