Toshiba Signs $17.7 Billion Deal With Bain-Apple Group to Sell Chip Unit

Toshiba Corp. said it reached a legally-binding agreement with a group led by U.S. private-equity firm Bain Capital LLC to sell its memory chip unit for Yen2 trillion ($17.7 billion).

On Thursday, Toshiba reached a deal with the group, which includes Apple Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., Seagate Technology PLC, Japan's Hoya Corp. and South Korea's SK Hynix Inc. The unit will remain a Toshiba affiliate even after the deal's completion. Toshiba and Bain want to get the deal done by the end of March.

Still, ongoing litigation with Western Digital Corp., which jointly operates the memory business with Toshiba, means the saga isn't over. Western Digital claims it has the right to vote on the sale. Another hurdle is receiving antitrust clearance, which could take six months or longer.

Toshiba suffered huge losses from its U.S. nuclear subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Co.'s chapter 11 filing earlier this year, and it is rushing to close the deal to raise cash by March so it can remain listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Write to Takashi Mochizuki at takashi.mochizuki@wsj.com and Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2017 03:27 ET (07:27 GMT)