ChainCatcher reports that, according to an exclusive report by the Dong-A Ilbo on October 26, memory chipmaker SK hynix plans to return 80% of the proceeds from the sale of its stake in Japanese NAND flash memory maker Kioxia to shareholders through a special dividend. Citing investment banking and business sources, the report estimates the proceeds at around 20 trillion won, with the special dividend expected to total about 16 trillion won. The company plans to announce the proposal when it releases its third-quarter results on October 28. For now, this is an industry expectation, not an official company announcement.

Based on the current number of shares outstanding, the special dividend would amount to approximately 2,300 won per share—15 times the annual fixed dividend of 150 won per share and 61 times the quarterly dividend of 37.5 won. Whether the payment will be made in installments is still under review. Last year, total dividends amounted to 2.1 trillion won. During its second-quarter earnings call, the company said it was considering various additional ways to return value to shareholders and would share its decision later this year.

In 2018, SK hynix joined a U.S.-Japanese-South Korean consortium led by Bain Capital to acquire Toshiba’s NAND business, which was renamed Kioxia in 2019. The company’s total investment was approximately 395 billion yen, and Bain has sold its fund’s stake in stages, fully recovering its investment. The partial sale in the first quarter of this year generated 4.1178 trillion won. Following further sales in the second quarter, estimated gains excluding the principal amount were approximately 20 trillion won. Before the stock split, Kioxia’s share price rose from around 10,000 yen at the end of last year to a record high of 112,700 yen on June 22 this year.