BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Leading global supplier of flash memory and solid state drives (SSDs).

THE BAIN CAPITAL ADVANTAGE AT WORK

Toshiba Memory (now Kioxia) is a leading producer in the flash memory sector, having invented the world’s first NAND flash memory in 1987. When Toshiba decided to sell its prized chip unit, Bain Capital leveraged its deep local knowledge and broad global reach to execute a highly complex deal.

A worldwide presence gives our firm two key advantages: the local knowledge to complete deals anywhere and, once an investment is made, the operational heft to support companies on an international scale.

These strengths gave Bain Capital the winning edge in the competitive process to purchase Kioxia. After a thorough bidding process, a Bain Capital-led consortium was selected as the partner of choice, based in large part on Bain Capital’s long history of successful investments in Japan and our credible commitment to continuing to invest behind Kioxia’s legacy of innovation.

Bain Capital operates a full investment platform in Japan, with dozens of professionals in its Tokyo office. Our deep market knowledge, extensive local networks and proven ability to drive operational improvement had established Bain Capital as a valued partner in the Japanese market, where other global investment firms have historically found it difficult to establish a foothold.

Bain Capital committed to keeping Kioxia in Japan and developing Kioxia’s semiconductor technology there, while continuing to fund development efforts to meet growing and increasingly sophisticated global demand. Although Kioxia is headquartered in Japan, the majority of its customer base is international. Bain Capital’s global technology investing footprint was vital to understanding the business’s value proposition to customers and the nature and pace of its technology efforts.

The transaction itself was highly complex. The company has important business partnerships with many international stakeholders, including Apple, Dell and Western Digital. Bain Capital’s global reach and established relationships with those stakeholders were integral to the Kioxia acquisition and ensuring the go-forward success of the company as a standalone entity.

The scale of the transaction, an $18 billion carve-out, required the creation of a multi-party consortium of equity and debt investors and the development of an agreeable corporate governance approach that would set Kioxia up for success. Bain Capital played a critical role in identifying and bringing together the right set of strategic partners to offer Toshiba maximum speed and certainty on a transaction. Today, Kioxia continues its leadership position as the industry’s innovation engine, with the support of Bain Capital’s global resources.