Western Digital Corp, part of a group offering to buy Toshiba Corp's memory chip unit, is not seeking a management role in the business, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Toshiba is scrambling to sell its flash memory unit to cover losses from its bankrupt U.S. nuclear business Westinghouse. A consortium that includes Western Digital is offering around 1.9 trillion yen (US$17.3 billion) for the unit, with the U.S. firm offering 150 billion yen through convertible bonds, separate people said on Thursday.
Western Digital will initially not seek voting rights, and will promise to limit its voting rights to no more than one-third even after it converts its bonds to shares, said the people on Friday, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the talks were confidential.
Western Digital's conciliatory offer comes amid what sources have described as wariness among Toshiba's chip business executives of a deal with the U.S. company.
Ties between the two companies soured quickly after Western Digital bought SanDisk, Toshiba's memory chip business partner for 17 years, in May last year as they failed to agree on terms of a new joint venture contract.
Western Digital has also taken Toshiba to court after the Japanese conglomerate initially picked a different group including South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc as the preferred bidder, arguing that it needs to consent to any sale.
Western Digital declined to comment. Toshiba has said it could not comment on details of talks.
Sources have said Toshiba wants to close the sale by the end of the fiscal year in March to ensure it does not report negative net worth, or liabilities exceeding assets, for a second year running - a scenario that could result in delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Given regulatory approvals could take more than six months, the company has been hoping to reach a deal by the end of the month to ensure it can close the sale in time.
Toshiba's board plans to vote on Western Digital's offer on Aug 31 if the two sides can agree on a deal, the people said.
The consortium with Western Digital also includes U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co as well as the state-backed Innovation Network Corp of Japan and Development Bank of Japan, all of which will offer 300 billion yen each for the chip business, the people said on Thursday.
Reuters
Fri Aug 25 2017
A Western Digital office building is shown in Irvine, California, U.S. on Jan 24, 2017. - REUTERS
Perkembangan letupan Gunung Ruang, tindakan seterusnya?
Bersama ditalian, Susan Margaret, Ketua Biro Kompas TV Manado.
Pembantu kedai telefon mengaku tidak bersalah sebabkan kematian OKU
Lim Guan Yan membuat pengakuan itu selepas pertuduhan ke atasnya dibacakan di hadapan Majistret Suhaila Shafi'uddin.
Microsoft umum pelaburan AI, awan bernilai USD2.2 bilion di Malaysia
Bersama ditalian, Pengarah Institut Kajian Malaysia dan Antarabangsa (IKMAS) UKM, Prof. Dr Sufian Jusoh.
BPT SPRM berperanan kesan kelompongan, ketirisan dalam organisasi
Bahagian Penyiasatan Tatakelola (BPT) SPRM berperanan menjalankan siasatan bagi mengesan kelompongan dalam tatacara kerja dan mengurangkan ketirisan dalam organisasi.
Pelaburan Microsoft AS$2.2 bilion: Bukti keyakinan global kepada Malaysia - PM
Malaysia menyambut baik keputusan pelaburan dibuat Microsoft bernilai AS$2.2 bilion (RM10.5 bilion).
Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim berkata jumlah ini adalah pelaburan terbesar pada satu-satu masa oleh Microsoft setelah 32 tahun bertapak di Malaysia.
Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim berkata jumlah ini adalah pelaburan terbesar pada satu-satu masa oleh Microsoft setelah 32 tahun bertapak di Malaysia.
Lelaki warga emas ditemui maut di kawasan kebun getah
Seorang lelaki warga emas yang dilaporkan hilang ketika keluar mencari daun palas Isnin lepas, ditemukan meninggal dunia di kawasan kebun getah di Kampung Guar Sanai, Beseri, Padang Besa, semalam.
AWANI Ringkas: Protest bertembung dengan kumpulan pro-Israel
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
Banyak usaha Kerajaan Perpaduan bantu masyarakat India - Fahmi
Menteri Komunikasi Fahmi Fadzil berkata banyak usaha dilakukan Kerajaan Perpaduan untuk membantu masyarakat India.
Kemalangan dua treler di lebuh raya, semua lorong arah utara terhalang
Susulan kemalangan itu menyebabkan semua lorong arah utara terhalang dan trafik dilencongkan ke Plaza Tol Kuala Kangsar.
Ketegangan terus memuncak di kampus A.S
Penunjuk perasaan terus berkumpul di kampus Universiti California Los Angeles (UCLA) selepas ketegangan memuncak di kampus A.S apabila penyokong pro-Israel menyerang perkhemahan penunjuk perasaan pro-Palestin pada Rabu.