Toshiba agreed last year to sell the world’s second-largest NAND flash chip production business to a consortium led by US private-equity firm Bain Capital to fill the financial hole left by the bankruptcy of its US nuclear business. Faced with deadlines approved by Chinese anti-monopoly authority before March 23rd.
Bain Capital’s acquisition consortium includes another flash memory chip company, South Korea’s SK Hynix. Due to market share and scale, Toshiba’s transaction needs to be reviewed and approved by US, European Union, Chinese and other anti-monopoly agencies. The statement stated that it has not confirmed approval from all regulatory authorities but has not named China.
'We don't know when the sale can be completed, but we will continue to work hard to sell it as soon as possible,' Toshiba said. A speaker said the company has not yet given up to complete the transaction by the end of this month.
At the end of March, Toshiba’s fiscal year will end. According to foreign media reports, Toshiba can abandon the transaction if the transaction between Toshiba and Bain Capital is reached and the country’s anti-monopoly authority fails to pass the review before the deadline in late March. , Seeking other development options. Toshiba does not have to pay any liquidated damages.
Toshiba’s attitude indicates that it is not ready to consider other alternatives. For example, analysts previously forecasted the split-up of flash memory. Previously, some media also believed that the lack of anti-monopoly approval may be a good thing for Toshiba, due to improved financial data. The company can re-raise the offer, even $4 billion more than the current price.
One of the backgrounds of the transfer of flash assets last year was that Toshiba needed more cash to avoid insolvency until the end of March this year (otherwise it would be completely delisted by the Tokyo Stock Exchange).
After signing with Bain Capital, Toshiba conducted overseas financing, transferred some non-core assets, and its flash memory business also achieved good operating results. Right now, even without flash memory transactions, Toshiba does not need to worry about being traded by securities. Delisted.
According to reports, some active shareholders oppose Toshiba's transaction and believe that the asset value is underestimated. They think that they should negotiate with Bain Capital to negotiate on the purchase price, or make the flash memory business split.
It is generally believed that the biggest difficulty in the review of Toshiba deals comes from South Korea's Hynix. The industry is also worried that if the acquisition is completed, Hynix will gain greater scale and influence in the market and damage the market competition. Historically, Hynix has passed Abnormal means to obtain a case of Toshiba Semiconductor Technology.