Reports that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts may ride in to help bolster Renesas Electronics have given shares in the Japanese chip maker a big boost.
Renesas' stock price vaulted 35 percent on Wednesday to 308 yen after Nikkei and others said that K.K.R. was preparing to invest about 100 billion yen, or $1.3 billion, in the company. According to Reuters and Bloomberg News, the firm would buy newly issued shares in the semiconductor maker.
Such an investment would give K.K.R. control of Renesas and represent the private equity firm's biggest-ever investment in Japan.
And it would help support Renesas during its efforts to revive its ailing fortunes, driven by falling prices for chips that it makes for the likes of Apple. The company is in the middle of a turnaround campaign that includes laying off 12 percent of its work force, as well as a renewed focus on microcontroller chips that are used in cars.
The company was created in 2010 through the merger of NE C Electronics and Renesas Technology, creating one of the world's five biggest semiconductor companies. But it has struggled to compete against the likes of Samsung Electronics.
