After Bain Capital exits, SK hynix may become the actual second-largest shareholder of Kioxia, while Toshiba reclaims the top spot as the largest shareholder

Deep Tide TechFlow news: On July 26, according to South Korean media outlet Daum, Bain Capital, an American investment fund, is expected to generate about 2.5 trillion yen in investment gains by selling most of its stake in Japan’s storage-chip company Kioxia (Kioxia), setting one of the highest-return records in Japanese private equity (PE) cases.

With Bain Capital exiting, Kioxia’s largest shareholder will revert to Toshiba, holding about 15%. SK hynix, through the convertible bonds held by its special purpose company (SPC), will become the de facto second-largest shareholder, with a stake of about 14%. However, because SK hynix has not yet converted the convertible bonds into shares, it still does not have formal shareholder voting rights. In the future, the conversion will need to be completed after antitrust reviews in each country. Previously, SK hynix invested about 395 billion yen into the relevant SPC in the form of convertible bonds and pledged that it would not hold more than 15% of the voting rights in Kioxia before 2028. Market watchers are paying close attention: as global competition in storage chips intensifies, Kioxia’s complex equity structure and the potential changes to SK hynix’s holdings will become an important variable in Japan’s semiconductor industry strategic planning.