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Japan: Toshiba considering IPO for memory chip unit

By  |  January 22, 2018

Toshiba Corp is considering an IPO of its prized memory chip business if an agreed US$18 billion sale to a Bain Capital-led consortium fails to gain antitrust approval by the end of March, the Financial Times reported on Monday, January 22.

The IPO is one of various contingency plans being looked at by Toshiba’s top executives, the Financial Times said, citing people familiar with the plans. It added that some analysts and Toshiba shareholders favor it over the existing deal.

Toshiba agreed last September to sell Toshiba Memory, the world’s second-biggest producer of NAND chips, to a consortium led by Bain to cover billions of dollars in liabilities arising from now bankrupt US nuclear power unit Westinghouse Electric Co LLC.

But the Japanese conglomerate no longer faces the pressure it once did to complete a sale, after raising 600 billion yen (US$5.4 billion) with a new share issue to overseas funds late last year, which with tax write-offs gives it sufficient funds to cover its liabilities.

Full Content: Finacial Times

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