TOKYO, June 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Embattled conglomerate Toshiba on Friday
completed the $21 billion sale of its prized chip unit to an investment
consortium, a move seen as crucial to keeping the Japanese firm afloat.
The deal had been delayed while Chinese regulators examined whether it
could violate anti-trust laws, but they finally granted approval in mid-May.
“Toshiba hereby gives notice that the closing of the sale has been
completed today as scheduled,” the group said in a statement.
It added that the deal was worth about 2.3 trillion yen ($21 billion).
The business was sold to K.K. Pangea, a special-purpose company controlled
by a consortium led by US investor Bain Capital.
The Bain-led group includes US tech giants Apple and Dell, as well as
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix.
Toshiba said it was reinvesting a total of 350.5 billion yen in Pangea,
acquiring a 40.2 percent stake.
The sale and reinvestment will give Toshiba a pre-tax profit of 970
billion yen, though the bump was already built into forecasts it announced
last month.
Toshiba agreed in September to sell its memory chip business in a bid to
stay afloat after multi-billion-dollar losses.
It struggled after the disastrous acquisition of US nuclear energy firm
Westinghouse, which racked up billions of dollars in losses before being
placed under bankruptcy protection.
In order to survive and avoid delisting, the cash-strapped group decided
to sell the chip business — the crown jewel in a vast range of businesses
ranging from home appliances to nuclear reactors.
Toshiba said last month it had bounced back into the black, avoiding a
humiliating delisting from the Tokyo stock exchange.
The firm booked a record net profit of 804 billion yen for the year ending
March 31, compared with a loss of 965.7 billion yen a year earlier.
That marks the first net profit for the firm in four years, and was helped
by one-off revenue from tax cuts linked to the sale of its nuclear units.