Toshiba Sells NAND Divison To Consortium

Toshiba is selling their crown jewel, the NAND flash division. The sale iinvolves 18 Billion and is sold to a consortium in which Western Digital (who last year acquired Sandisk as well) has a large stake. The consortium and Toshiba aim to announce a deal on Wednesday or Thursday.

As reported at Reuters; A deal would mark an end to months of uncertainty for Toshiba, which is scrambling to sell its flash memory unit - the world’s No. 2 producer of NAND chips - to cover billions in losses at its bankrupt U.S. nuclear business Westinghouse. It would also be a remarkable victory for Western Digital, Toshiba’s joint venture partner for its chip business, after relations with the Japanese firm frayed to point where other bidders were chosen first and the U.S. firm initiated legal action that threatened to derail any deal. Western Digital, Toshiba and a state-backed fund, the Innovation Network of Japan, which is a member of the consortium declined to comment. While Western Digital is very much in the driver’s seat in talks, it has made several key concessions to secure a deal that Toshiba is willing to accept and that will keep the unit out of the hands of rival chip firms, sources have said.

Other members of group, which is offering 1.9 trillion yen ($17.4 billion), will include the Innovation Network Corp of Japan and the Development Bank of Japan as well as KKR, with each putting up 300 billion yen, they said. Japanese banks and companies will also provide financing. It remains to be seen if a deal will be concluded and announced by Thursday, but the likelihood is incredibly high.