Key facts
- Mitsui Chemicals and Development Bank of Japan will acquire all JSR shares held by Japan Investment Corp.
- DBJ will pay ¥200 billion in cash for a JSR stake to be converted into non-voting preferred shares.
- JSR supplies photoresists used with ASML extreme ultraviolet lithography machines to pattern circuits on silicon wafers.
Mitsui Chemicals said it would buy semiconductor materials maker JSR from state-backed Japan Investment Corp. in a deal valued at ¥1.84 trillion, according to a filing on November 9. Mitsui and Development Bank of Japan will acquire all JSR shares held by Japan Investment Corp., the companies said. DBJ will pay ¥200 billion in cash for a stake that will be converted to preferred shares without voting rights, it said.
JSR makes photoresists, light-sensitive materials used in chipmaking, and supplies customers including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Intel and Samsung Electronics, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Mitsui Chemicals shares fell as much as 15% in Tokyo on November 9.
Japan's government has been consolidating the country's semiconductor-materials industry, and Japan Investment Corp. took JSR private two years ago. It was reported in September that JSR was weighing buyout proposals from Mitsui and rival Mitsubishi Chemical Group.