Japan’s Toshiba Corp is locked in last minute discussions over “key issues” with the would-be buyers of its $18 billion memory chip business led by U.S. private equity firm Bain, potentially delaying a formal agreement on the sale.
Toshiba said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell the prized unit to the Bain consortium, and had been expected to formalise the sale on Thursday.
Instead, South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc, part of the winning consortium, said talks were still ongoing. Sources familiar with the matter confirmed consortium members were still wrangling over details of their agreement and said commitment letters from all participants were still needed before the sale could be signed formally.
Adding to uncertainty, jilted suitor and Toshiba joint venture partner Western Digital took fresh legal action overnight, filing new arbitration requests to stop Toshiba investing in a new flash memory production line without its help.
Struggling to plug a yawning balance sheet hole after a cost blow-out at its now-bankrupt U.S. nuclear business, Toshiba has been trying to sell its chip business since late January.
Agreeing the sale of the world’s second-largest producer of NAND flash memory chips brings the group closer to the end of a tangled and fraught process.
By Baishakhi Dutta
