Toshiba Resumes Talks Over Contentious Sale of Microchip Unit
Last month, Toshiba said it would sell a stake in the unit to a consortium of investors from Japan, the United States
and South Korea, anchored by financial firms with close links to the Japanese government.
Some officials in Japan were said to be concerned that SK Hynix might scoop up Toshiba’s NAND manufacturing technology for itself, so Toshiba initially suggested
that the South Korean company provide only debt financing for the deal.
Toshiba’s announcement on Thursday came on the eve of an arbitration hearing in the dispute with Western Digital, with a hefty prize at stake: Whichever eventually wins
control of the microchip unit will become a major player in NAND flash memory, the technology used to store data in millions of cellphones and digital devices.
The group includes the American buyout firm Bain Capital and the South Korean technology company SK Hynix.
But on Thursday, Toshiba said in an emailed statement
that because it had not reached a final agreement with the buyers it selected last month for the NAND business, "we have started discussion with other suitors." That has left the door open for Western Digital, which has seized the opportunity to press ahead with its own bid, made in partnership with the American investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.
By JONATHAN SOBLEJULY 13, 2017
TOKYO — Toshiba, the struggling Japanese technology conglomerate, has been locked for
months in a complex dance over the sale of its $18 billion microchip business.
