Bain Capital Brings In Apple For Bid On Toshiba Chip Unit

[rgMekanic]

In a last-ditch offer Bain Capital has brought in Apple Inc to help bolster it's bid for Toshiba's flash memory unit. Toshiba has been trying to sell it's flash memory unit to cover billions in losses at its bankrupt U.S nuclear business Westinghouse. The revised offer is worth $18.2 billion (2 trillion Yen), with SK Hynix responsible for the majority. A Western Digital-led consortium has offered 1.9 trillion yen, which Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has encouraged Toshiba to accept. The company needs to raise the money by March to avoid seeing its shares delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The auction has been complicated by legal action from Western Digital, which has argued it should have a say in any sale because of its partnership with Toshiba in the chips business.

I have to agree with Western Digital, following their purchase of SanDisk in 2016 they jointly own the NAND design and manufacturing facilities. Hopefully this gets sorted out quickly, and starts to get NAND flash prices back down.

In the past week, Toshiba’s banks have stepped up pressure to reach final terms by Thursday, so that it can complete the sale by March, people familiar with the matter have said. Western Digital Chief Executive Officer Steve Milligan also returned to Japan to work on the deal, they said. But Toshiba and Western Digital remain at odds over several points.

 

[AltreineirialX]

I hear Wayne Enterprises was in the running.

 

[Stimpy88]

I hope that Western Digital does not get its hands on Toshiba’s memory. WD getting them would make WD an even bigger monopoly than it already is which is bad news for us. There is not enough real competition in the market as it is.