WD and Toshiba reach agreement on the divestment of assets

Western Digital Corp. has announced that it has reached an agreement with Toshiba Corporation over the divestment of certain assets.

This divestments takes place in order to address the requirements of the regulatory agencies that have conditionally approved, or are continuing to review, the company’s planned acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. The covering of certain asset packages by this agreement will allow Toshiba to produce and sell 3.5″hard drives for the desktop and consumer electronics markets and will enhance its ability to manufacture and sell 3.5″ hard drives for near-line (business critical) applications. As for the divestiture transaction, it is subject to review by regulatory agencies in certain jurisdictions.

Also reported by Western Digital is the agreement to purchase Toshiba Storage Device (Thailand) Company Limited (TSDT) as subject to the completion of the divestiture transaction. TSDT’s function was the manufacture of hard drives but it is still on hold following the recent Thailand flooding. The main assets of TSDT are its Thailand property, facilities and employees. Western Digital plans to integrate these facilities and employees into its Thailand operations. The financial terms of the two agreements were not disclosed.

The closing of the transactions with Toshiba is conditioned on WD’s closing of its planned acquisition of Hitachi, currently remaining subject to several closing conditions which include the receipt of certain remaining antitrust approvals. After the acquisition of the latter, the company plans on closing the transactions with Toshiba in March 2012.

Source: Press Release