According to "Financial Times" reported on January 22, Beijing time, informed sources revealed that if the 18 billion US dollars to Bain Capital (hereinafter referred to as "Bain") the sale of memory chip business in the end of March did not obtain the approval of the anti-monopoly regulatory agency Toshiba will consider making the memory chip business IPO (initial public offering).
The IPO program is one of many contingency plans and options considered by Toshiba management senior executives. Some analysts and Toshiba shareholders are more optimistic about the memory chip business IPO rather than sold to Bain. Toshiba still faces pressure from investors and creditors.
Since Toshiba and Bain signed an agreement to sell memory chips, many Toshiba investors have expressed their concerns: Bain's bid is lower than the value of the memory chip business. Toshiba’s financing of US$5.4 billion through the issuance of new shares in November last year greatly improved the financial situation. Some shareholders believe that Toshiba should reconsider whether the sale of one of the biggest growth engines in the future is in the interests of the company.
A number of sources close to Toshiba confirmed that the IPO program is one of many options submitted to senior management. Damian Thong, an analyst with Macquarie Group, said, “For Toshiba, IPO is a better solution and Toshiba will get the value of giving up to Bain. Toshiba’s negotiating bargaining chips at the time of the deal is very small,†said Damian Thong. But it is in a very different situation."
A large write-down of nuclear assets in the United States has put Toshiba in a financial dilemma. To avoid being delisted by the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Toshiba must improve its financial position by the end of March 2018. After the false accounting scandal in 2015, the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s restrictions on its financing made Toshiba worse.
Informed sources said that Toshiba management executives "thinkingly" want to avoid being delisted by the Tokyo stock exchange, under pressure from top creditors including Mizuho Bank and Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Group, under pressure to sell assets.
According to the agreement, Toshiba could consider other options if the transaction fails to obtain approval from the global antitrust regulator by March 31st.
Although several major antitrust regulators have already approved this transaction, most experts believe that the transaction will be approved by all antitrust regulators, but analysts and those close to Toshiba said that due to working procedures, Chinese antitrust regulators may The transaction cannot be approved by March 31st. Analysts said that the current situation shows that the probability of Toshiba’s failure to sell memory chips to Bain is 20%.
Bankers and other consultants close to Toshiba said that even if the transaction cannot be completed before March 31st, the most likely option for Toshiba will be to negotiate with Bain to extend the transaction deadline to June. A Toshiba spokesperson said that whether the transaction can be approved before the end of March, the company believes that the deal with Bain is the best option.
For more information, please pay attention to the power electronic channel
Original Electronics Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. , https://www.original-te.com