July 26, according to Korean media Daum, U.S. investment fund Bain Capital is expected to realize investment gains of about 2.5 trillion yen by selling most of its shares in Japan’s storage-chip company Kioxia, setting one of the highest return records in Japanese private equity (PE) cases.

With Bain Capital exiting, Kioxia’s largest shareholder reverts to Toshiba, holding about 15%. SK hynix, through convertible bonds held by a special purpose company (SPC), becomes the de facto second-largest shareholder, with the stake accounting for 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. SK hynix previously invested about 395 billion yen in 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. The market is watching as competition in storage chips intensifies worldwide; Kioxia’s complex equity structure and any potential changes in SK hynix’s holdings will become an important variable in Japan’s semiconductor industry strategic planning. #夏日创作营