TOKYO - Japanese electronics and technology maker Toshiba has accepted a 2 trillion yen ($15 billion) takeover offer from Japan Industry Partners, an acquisition fund composed of major banks and corporations.
If successful, the offer would be an important step in Toshiba's turnaround efforts, allowing the company to go private and be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. But outside activist investors have a large stake in Toshiba, and it's not clear whether they'll be happy with the new offering.
The board of directors of Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp. said it accepted the offer at 4,620 yen ($36) after close of trading in Tokyo on Thursday evening. Toshiba closed at 4,213 yen ($32) a share on Thursday and rose 4.2% to 4,390 yen ($34) on Friday.
The move comes amid market turmoil following the massive damage caused by the recent US banking crisis.
The acquisition will maintain Toshiba's Japanese business in collaboration with Japanese partners.
Japan Industrial Partners, founded in 2002 to restructure Japanese companies, lists some of the biggest names it has invested in, including Sony, Hitachi, Olympus and NEC.
According to Japanese media, the consortium includes about 20 Japanese companies, including financial services firm Oryx Corp., electronics maker Rohm Co. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
Serious problems at Toshiba began with a major accounting scandal in 2015, during which the accounting books were falsified for years. This has exacerbated the problems with the nuclear business.
Westinghouse, the US nuclear arm, filed for bankruptcy in 2017 after years of security spending. Toshiba is involved in the decommissioning of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which was severely affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Toshiba, which has been making home appliances, laptops, batteries and computer chips for years, has gone through several presidents as the brand has come under fire from private equity activists overseas.
The latest proposal is subject to review by regulators in several countries, including the United States, Vietnam, Germany and Morocco. The process is expected to last several months.
Toshiba has been trying to go private in recent years. A proposal to split Toshiba into three and then two companies was rejected by shareholders. The cancellation allows Toshiba to drop activist investors.
Toshiba began modestly as a telegraph equipment factory in 1875. The brand is synonymous with the strength of modern Japanese manufacturing. Although Toshiba remained a shareholder in Kyoxia, the company sold some of its assets, including its flash memory business, now known as Kyoxia.
It is unclear whether Toshiba will be able to resume a strong growth path. Last month, Toshiba cut its fiscal-year profit forecast to 130 billion yen ($1 billion) from a previous forecast of 190 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in March.
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