Japan’s Toshiba sells prized computer chip unit for US$18 billion
Apple and Dell part of group that buys the Toshiba unit
Japan’s Toshiba Corp agreed on Wednesday to sell its prized semiconductor business to a group led by US private equity firm Bain Capital LP, a key step in keeping the struggling Japanese conglomerate listed on the Tokyo exchange.
In a last-minute twist to a long and highly contentious auction, Toshiba said in a late-night announcement through the exchange it agreed to sign a contract for the deal worth about 2 trillion yen (US$18 billion).
The decision to sell the world’s No 2 producer of NAND memory chips was made at a board meeting earlier on Wednesday. Late on Tuesday, sources had said Toshiba was leaning towards selling the business to its US joint venture partner Western Digital Corp.
It’s unclear whether the sale to the Bain Capital-led group will proceed smoothly, as Western Digital has previously initiated legal action against Toshiba, arguing that no deal can be done without its consent due to its position as Toshiba’s joint venture chip partner.
Toshiba said the agreement assumes the deal would weather legal challenges raised by Western Digital. A Western Digital spokeswoman said the company did not have an immediate comment.
