Apple's Troubled Supplier Japan Display to Seek Funding

Apple supplier Japan Display said on Monday it aims to raise as much as $990 million in new financing as early as this week, sending shares of the struggling manufacturer sharply higher.

Japan Display, one of the world's top vendors of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels used in iPhones, has been battered by Apple's shifting fortunes. It has been particularly hurt by a slowdown in iPhone sales and a proliferation of new models that use newer, organic light-emitting displays (OLED).

Japan Display said it is aiming for a total capital increase of JPY 110 billion ($990 million). As much as JPY 80 billion of that would be through issuance of stocks and bonds to external investors, an agreement it aimed to reach this week, it said.

It did not name the external investors, although two sources with direct knowledge of the matter had previously told Reuters it was looking to an investor group, led by China Silkroad Investment Capital, for a bailout.

The remainder of the financing would come through preferred shares to refinance existing debt held by its largest shareholder, the state-backed INCJ, Japan Display said in its statement.

Japan Display, formed in 2012 in a government-backed merger of the ailing display units of Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi, flagged its fifth straight year of net losses in February.

Shares of Japan Display rose as much as 16 percent in early trade on Monday and were up 13 percent at JPY 78 as of 0211 GMT.

© Thomson Reuters 2019