Eneos Seeks Up To $3 Billion In Biggest Japan IPO Since 2018

Tokyo: JX Advanced Metals (JXAM), a fully owned metals subsidiary of Japan's Eneos Holdings (5020.T), has received approval to list its shares in a $3 billion offering, as indicated by a regulatory filing on Friday, marking the largest IPO in the country in seven years. JXAM has proposed a preliminary offering price of 862 yen ($5.64) for each share before listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on March 19. The ultimate price will be established by March 10. Eneos, the biggest oil refiner in Japan, intends to offer 465.2 million shares of JXAM, including an overallotment option for as much as 69.8 million shares.

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JXAM plans $3B IPO, Japan’s largest since 2018

The stock sale would enable Eneos to generate up to 461 billion yen ($3.01 billion), based on calculations by Reuters, resulting in a market valuation of 800 billion yen for the company. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Eneos was aiming to raise a minimum of 400 billion yen via the IPO. The refiner intends to allocate the funds for growth initiatives and to improve returns for shareholders. Eneos Chief Financial Officer Soichiro Tanaka stated on Friday that (natural) gas and liquefied natural gas are appealing sectors. At that size, JXAM would surpass Tokyo Metro's (9023.T), open a new tab IPO planned for October based on LSEG data, and become the largest listing in Japan since SoftBank's (9984.T), open a new tab telecom unit in 2018.

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JXAM is a top producer of sputtering targets, which serve as materials for forming thin metal films in the chip manufacturing process. The semiconductor materials division of the unit accounted for roughly one-third of its operating income, which was 81 billion yen, in the previous financial year. JXAM has invested in a new facility to produce sputtering targets in Arizona. The company claims to identify opportunities for quicker expansion compared to the wider logic and memory chip sector. JAXM is a key manufacturer of rolled copper foil for flexible printed circuits utilized in smartphones. Daiwa Securities, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Mizuho are co-global coordinators for the IPO. ($1 = 152.8600 yen)