Toshiba management announced the start of a tender for the purchase of the company – Kommersant

Today, the management of the Japanese corporation Toshiba announced the start of a tender for its purchase (.pdf). It is expected to last about a month. In case of a successful transaction, the management plans to withdraw the company from the stock exchange, making it private.

The main contender for the purchase of Toshiba is the Japan Industrial Partners consortium, consisting of Japanese banks and private investment funds. The expected amount of the deal is about 2 trillion yen ($14 billion). Toshiba’s board of directors has accepted the consortium’s proposal and is now urging shareholders to follow suit.

The company’s management decided to sell Toshiba and withdraw it from the stock exchange after several years of scandals, which significantly weakened its position in the market. Problems started back in 2015 with Toshiba’s financial reporting scandal and issues with its American division, Westinghouse Electric. In 2017, Toshiba changed management and launched massive restructuring.

In April 2021 Toshiba received the first purchase offer from the European investment fund CVC Capital. The amount of the transaction could be $20.8 billion, but 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. But Toshiba shareholders did not support these leadership plans.

Evgeniy Khvostik