State-backed Japan Investment Corp is in talks to buy the country's top chipmaker, JSR Corp (4185.T), for about 1 trillion yen ($6.96 billion), the Nikkei reported on Saturday.
The fund aims to make a tender offer as early as this year after clearing the buyout with domestic and foreign antitrust authorities, the report said.
If the deal goes through, JSR would delist from the Tokyo Stock Exchange as soon as 2024, according to Nikkei.
The company, which was set up in 1957 as a government-backed synthetic rubber maker, now supplies photoresists to global chipmakers. They are used to transfer circuit patterns on to semiconductor wafers.
To purchase JSR, JIC intends to establish a new company with 500 billion yen in capital, while Mizuho Bank will provide another 400 billion yen in finance.
The fund plans to raise 100 billion yen via preferred shares and subordinated loans underwritten by various banks, according to Nikkei.
The deal would grant JSR, with its significant 30% share of the global photoresist market, greater freedom for expansion, without being constrained by worries about stock market performance, Nikkei said.
($1 = 143.7800 yen)
