Toshiba accepts $15B buyout offer from Japanese group
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Toshiba (OTCPK:TOSBF) (OTCPK:TOSYY) confirmed Thursday it accepted a buyout offer of ~¥2T ($15.3B) from a group led by P-E firm Japan Industrial Partners Inc., or ¥4,620/share, a nearly 10% premium to the stock's latest closing price in Tokyo.
The offer requires investors to tender at least two-thirds of outstanding shares to succeed; the company would then delist from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Toshiba (OTCPK:TOSBF) (OTCPK:TOSYY) said the consortium previously offered as much as ¥5,500/share, but the bid has since been lowered several times due to deteriorating market conditions, the difficulty in securing financing and the company's reduced earnings outlook.
If the sale goes through, it will rank as one of the biggest ever private equity-led buyouts in Japan.
Nearly a year ago, Toshiba (OTCPK:TOSBF) (OTCPK:TOSYY) put itself up for auction after an earlier plan to split the company in two was rejected.