Chiba: Executives at crisis-hit Toshiba faced legions of angry shareholders on Wednesday as the firm announced it has yet to clinch a deal to sell its prized chip business to a consortium of US, Japanese and South Korean investors.
The sale, reportedly worth about 2.0 trillion yen ($18 billion), is seen as crucial for the cash-strapped company to plug massive losses at its US nuclear division, Westinghouse Electric.
Last week Toshiba said it has entered into exclusive talks with the public-private Innovation Network Corp of Japan, state-backed Development Bank of Japan, and US private equity fund Bain Capital, with South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix acting as a lender.
The company was aiming to announce the sale before Wednesday’s investor meeting, but said negotiations were still continuing. “It is taking time to reach a consensus because the consortium comprises multiple parties, and closure was not achieved by Toshiba’s primary target date,” it said in a statement.
“Toshiba intends to continue the negotiation towards reaching a definitive agreement at the earliest possible date, and will announce this in a timely manner once the agreement is closed.”
Toshiba’s multi-billion dollar losses at Westinghouse have raised doubts about the future of one of Japan’s best-known companies, which is still recovering from a 2015 accounting scandal. The firm is now is probing whistleblower claims of financial misconduct by senior managers at the nuclear US unit and trying to gauge the impact on its finances.
Toshiba has repeatedly delayed the release of its long-overdue earnings, saying it needed more time to finish accounting work at Westinghouse.
“I apologise from the bottom of my heart to shareholders and other stakeholders for repeatedly causing problems,” Toshiba’s Chief Executive Satoshi Tsunakawa told investors at the meeting near Tokyo on Wednesday.
The chip unit sale is seen as key to Toshiba’s turnaround, but it could still face a roadblock as US-based partner Western Digital, which jointly runs a key chip plant in Japan, opposes the sale. — AFP
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