Stefan Mileschin

Good news at last

Toshiba that China regulators have approved the $18 billion sale of its chip unit to a consortium led by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital, marking the end to a year-long saga surrounding its most prized asset.

For those who came in late, Toshiba has been trying to flog off Toshiba Memory to pay for a disasterous deal where it bought a US nuclear power company Westinghouse. The Bain consortium last year won a long and highly contentious battle for the business.

There were fears that the deal would not go ahead as it is taking place during trade tension between China and United States. It was feared that Beijing would delay reviews of major global chip deals. However all antitrust approvals have now been received and we are looking forward to closing this investment,” Bain Capital said in a statement yesterday.

“The Bain Capital-led consortium has committed to make significant capital investments to help develop and grow semiconductor technology.”

Toshiba said in a brief statement that it expects the deal to be completed on June 1.

The prolonged review by China had fueled speculation Toshiba might abandon the deal and pursue alternative plans such as an IPO for the unit.

The approval for the Bain consortium may raise hopes that Beijing will also give the greenlight to Qualcomm’s proposed $44 billion takeover of rival NXP Semiconductors. Sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday that there had yet to be any concrete breakthrough in China.

Bain’s consortium includes South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, Apple, Dell, Seagate and Kingston.

https://fudzilla.com/news/pc-hardwar...-for-chip-sale