Japan Display gets approval for up to $3.8b Tokyo listing

TOKYO, Feb 14 (Reuters): Japan Display, the world's biggest maker of screens for tablets and smartphones, gained approval for a Tokyo listing next month, in an offering worth around $3.8 billion.

The company, formed from the ailing display units of Hitachi Ltd, Sony Corp and Toshiba Corp, has managed to stage a sharp earnings recovery on the back of booming worldwide consumer demand for mobile devices.

The share sale, on par with Suntory Beverage and Food Ltd's IPO last July, will help the government fund that engineered its turnaround recoup some of its investment as well as raise funds for the company to invest in plant and equipment.

The offering by the supplier to Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd comes amid a pickup in Japanese listings as the reflationary policies of "Abenomics" have boosted Tokyo stock prices more than 60 per cent since November 2012.