Toshiba Unit Sale Delayed -- WSJ

By Allison Prang 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (April 2, 2018).

Toshiba Corp. said the closing of the sale of its chip unit has been delayed until April at the earliest as the company awaits final antitrust approval for the $19 billion deal.

The deadline to complete the deal had been March 31.

The Tokyo-based company reached a deal in September to sell the unit to a consortium, led by U.S. private-equity firm Bain Capital, that includes backing from Apple Inc. and Dell Technologies Inc.

Under the agreement, Toshiba could cancel the deal if it weren't closed by the end of March.

The company said Monday it hadn't yet won approval from Chinese authorities. Analysts have said the March deadline was unrealistic because Chinese antitrust authorities usually spend more than a half-year reviewing any large deal.

Toshiba said in its Friday statement that it "still intends to close the transaction as soon as possible."

The company has said it was expecting to earn almost $7 billion, after taxes, from selling the chip unit to the consortium.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange has cautioned Toshiba that if it didn't improve its financial situation by the end of March, it would be delisted.

Toshiba's subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Co. filed for bankruptcy last year, leading to Toshiba's having liabilities that surpassed its assets. The company has since capped those losses and raised new funds.

Write to Allison Prang at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 02, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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