Toshiba signs deal with Bain Capital over $18 billion chip unit

Toshiba has formally announced the sale of its chip manufacturing unit to a consortium led by U.S.-based Bain Capital.

The Japanese chip manufacturer will sell its business to Bain Capital — as well Apple, Kingston, Seagate and Dell, South Korean chip manufacturer SK Hynix, and Japanese Hoya Corporation — for an estimated $18 billion USD.

The negotiations over Toshiba’s chip business — the second-largest in the world — have been going on for nine months, and each week has brought on a new twist and turn.

At one point, U.S. data storage company Western Digital even attempted to block Toshiba’s sale with a court injunction aimed at stalling negotiations.

In spite of the various corporate attempts to impede negotiations from going through, Toshiba has successfully signed the deal.

However, as Reuters’ Makiko Yamazaki reports, the deal’s successful signing doesn’t necessarily mean that the deal will proceed with ease.

After all, the Bain-led consoritum consists of eight different corporations — several of whom actively compete with each other to begin with.

“The sale of the unit…was agreed last week after a tortuous auction process, but the signing was delayed because consortium-member [Apple] demanded new terms on chip supply,” wrote Yamazaki, attributing the news to “sources familiar with the matter.”

Toshiba’s decision to sell its chip unit came as a result of the company’s Westinghouse nuclear unit declaring bankruptcy.

Source: Reuters