Panasonic Eyes IPO for Supply Chain Business

Panasonic Holdings said it’s gearing up for a possible initial public offering of its supply chain management business (SCM business), including platform provider Blue Yonder. The company did not disclose an IPO valuation or expected market capitalization, nor did it say which exchange it would be listed under.

But analysts in Asia said if the IPO launched on a stock exchange in Japan, it would attain a market capitalization of at least 1 trillion yen ($7.7 billion) — making it the largest listing since 2018. Panasonic Holdings is expected to be a majority owner of the stock, if it occurs.

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The spinoff of the company’s SCM business was ahead of Blue Yonder’s first-quarter results, which showed SaaS (software as a service) revenue jumping 37 percent year-over-year to $113 million. A spokeswoman said the capital raised in the IPO “will help power Blue Yonder’s next phase of growth and be used to invest in Panasonic Group’s supply chain business, specifically R&D, M&A and talent.”

“With the introduction of the operating company system, the Panasonic Group aims to strengthen its competitiveness by enabling each operating company to act more independently and to thoroughly implement autonomous management,” Panasonic said in a statement. “Following, it was decided that based on the business characteristics and market environment, a stock exchange listing of the SCM business would be the optimal way to accelerate growth globally by utilizing the capital markets.”

By way of context, Panasonic said over the past few years, “the external environment surrounding the supply chain has been changing significantly and is becoming more complex due to recent geopolitical uncertainty, the pandemic and changes in consumer behavior.”

“Moreover, as the expected needs of enterprises for supply chain management solutions are increasing, and its market is expected to expand rapidly, competition for strengthening of R&D and investing in M&A has become more fierce in this field,” the company said. “Against this backdrop, the company believes that nimbly executed investment will enable it to expand the areas where it can make a positive contribution to society by providing SaaS, cloud-based solutions that can be implemented flexibly and swiftly to meet a variety of challenges faced by enterprises.”