Toshiba Picks Preferred Bidder for Microchip Business
Toshiba, a Japanese tech conglomerate that is awash in losses from its nuclear unit in the United States, said on Wednesday in a news release
that the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan; Bain Capital, the American private equity firm; and the Development Bank of Japan had jointly “presented the best proposal.” The size of the bid was not disclosed, but the microchip business is estimated to be worth about $20 billion.
Toshiba said in the news release that considerations included “certainty of closing, retention of employees
and maintenance of sensitive technology within Japan.”
Western Digital, an American data storage company that owns part of a Toshiba semiconductor
factory in Japan, has said the sale could not proceed without its consent.
By GERRY DOYLEJUNE 21, 2017
HONG KONG — Toshiba has picked a Japanese-led consortium to negotiate with over the fate of its multibillion-dollar
microchip unit, intensifying a showdown with an American business partner seeking to steer the sale.