Nikkei: Toshiba accepts $15.3 billion bid

Toshiba has accepted a ¥2 trillion ($15.3 billion) offer from a consortium of Japanese companies led by the Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) fund. According to the agency Nikkei, such a decision was made today at a meeting of the board of directors of Toshiba. As expected, after the purchase, Toshiba will become a private company.

As Nikkei notes, when considering JIP’s proposal, Toshiba’s board of directors came to the conclusion that it is in the interests of the company, will increase its value and will be beneficial for shareholders. JIP will now negotiate the deal with regulators and then buy back the shares from Toshiba’s shareholders. The purchase will be financed by investments from about 20 Japanese companies, including Chubu Electric Power, Orix, Rohm and others, as well as bank loans.

The sale of Toshiba is expected to end a challenging period in the company’s history that began in 2015 with scandal with financial reporting and problems with its American division of Westinghouse Electric. In 2017, Toshiba changed management and launched a massive restructuring. In April 2021, Toshiba received its first offer about the purchase from the European investment fund CVC Capital. The amount of the transaction could be $20.8 billion. However, the board of directors of the Japanese company did not accept this offer. In February, 2022 Toshiba announced plans of division into two companies within strategic development and for the purpose of restoration of sales falling in recent years. However, Toshiba shareholders do not supported these leadership plans. In February 2023, the company reported an 87.5% drop in third-quarter earnings due to reduced demand for its products. Over the past six months, the company’s shares have fallen in price by almost 20%.

Alena Miklashevskaya