Socionext Inc. stock tumbled by its daily limit after announcing Wednesday that its top shareholders plan to offload their entire stake in the Japanese chip design firm.
Shares fell 23% at the close, the most on record, after remaining untraded most of the day as sell offers outweighed bids. Socionext lost its status as Topix’s top performer year-to-date, after having surged as much as 560% since its initial public offering last October.
Panasonic Holdings Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and Development Bank of Japan Inc. will sell about 12.6 million Socionext shares in overseas markets as nine months have passed since the stock’s listing, according the company’s filing. That represents about ¥277 billion ($1.95 billion), based on Wednesday’s closing price. Panasonic slipped 0.5% while Fujitsu gained 1%.
“We expect a negative share-price reaction in the short term on liquidity issues given the three firms are simultaneously selling off virtually all their shareholdings,” SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. analyst Takeru Hanaya wrote in a note. “However, we think the risk of overhang will play out in the medium term given the current direction of events.”
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