Japan Display to Raise up to $2 Billion Via IPO

TOKYO--Japan Display Inc. plans to raise as much as Y200 billion on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by March in an initial public offering, people with knowledge of the deal said Friday.

The listing would value the world's biggest maker of displays for smartphones and tablets at between Y700 and Y800 billion, one of the people said.

The company, formed from the loss-making liquid crystal display units of Hitachi Ltd. (6501.TO), Toshiba Corp. (6502.TO) and Sony Corp. (6758.TO), is 70% owned by the state-backed fund Innovation Network Corp. of Japan. The INCJ plans to retain a stake in Japan Display after the IPO, according to one of the people.

In a statement, Japan Display said it is considering listing its stock in the future, but added there was nothing specific to announce at this point.

Since its establishment in 2012, the company set out to diversify its customers and now makes displays for Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) latest iPhone, Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Nexus 7 tablet, and is slated to make panels for Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) Kindle Fire electronic reader, according to people familiar with the industry.

Japan Display hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Nomura Holdings Inc. (8604.TO), and Morgan Stanley (MS) as joint global coordinators on the IPO, according to one of the people with knowledge of the deal.

-Daisuke Wakabayashi contributed to this article.

Write to Mayumi Negishi at [e-mail] and Kana Inagaki at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires