Toshiba Offered Whopping $3.6b for Flash Memory Business

Toshiba announced last month that it was selling a stake in its flash memory business, and reports have emerged suggesting that an unnamed company has offered a huge $3.6 billion for just under 20% of the NAND fabrication facilities. According to Reuters, the Japanese company is considering an offer of up to 400 billion yen ($3.6b) to offset the hit it has taken on its overvaluation of its US nuclear power business.

Reuters reports:

“Toshiba Corp has received bids ranging from 200 billion yen to as much as 400 billion yen ($1.8-3.6 billion) for a 19.9 percent stake in its flash memory business, a person directly involved in the deal told Reuters on Thursday.

The Japanese conglomerate is seeking to raise around 300 billion yen from the sale, said the person, who was not authorized to speak with media and so declined to be identified.

A sale at that price would help Toshiba offset a multi-billion dollar writedown on its U.S. nuclear power business, which investors worry could wipe out shareholder equity.

Suitors for the Japanese company’s chip unit include rivals SK Hynix Inc and Micron Technology Inc, data storage firm Western Digital Corp and financial investors such as Bain Capital, people told Reuters earlier this week.

Toshiba favors bids from investment funds because it could conclude a deal quicker than with industry peers that may have to seek permission from competition regulators before any acquisition, another person close to the matter said earlier.

A Toshiba executive has said the company will consider not just the offer price when selecting a bidder but other conditions as well.”

Toshiba has refused to comment on the specifics of the report. The company recently partnered with Western Digital to create the world’s first 512Gb 64-layer 3D NAND SSD, which is expected to go into mass production in the second-quarter of 2017.