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Investing.com-- Bain Capital has sold its entire stake in Japanese flash memory chipmaker Kioxia, Managing Partner David Gross told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday.
Bain had led an $18 billion deal to acquire the company– then Toshiba Memory– in 2018. Kioxia then completed its initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in late-2024, following a difficult restructuring and a failed merger with U.S. memory maker Western Digital.
Kioxia’s shares surged nearly 7% after Gross’ comments, with the Bain exit being viewed as removing a major overhang for the stock. Bain’s trimming of its stake in Kioxia had spurred weakness in the stock.
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Artificial intelligence-fueled demand for memory spurred major gains in Kioxia’s valuation over the past year, making it the most valuable company in Japan. Kioxia’s market capital hit a peak of 56 trillion yen ($345 billion) in mid-June, overtaking Toyota Motor as Japan’s most valuable company.
This also landed Bain a major windfall on its investment in the memory chip maker, with the private equity firm having held an over 50% stake in the company when it publicly listed.
Bain was seen steadily trimming its stake in Kioxia in recent months. The first major sale was reported in November 2025, where a Bain unit sold over $2 billion in Kioxia shares to overseas investors, and was followed by an over $3.5 billion sale in February.
“We were winding down… we don’t have a stake anymore,” Gross said on Wednesday when questioned about Bain’s holdings in Kioxia.
Beyond Bain, Toshiba is the single largest shareholder in Kioxia, with a reported stake of about 22% as of November 2025.
South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix was also part of the 2018 buyout, as were Apple, Dell Technologies, Kingston Tech, and Seagate Tech.
