Toshiba Picks Preferred Bidder for Microchip Business<br />Toshiba, a Japanese tech conglomerate that is awash in losses from its nuclear unit in the United States, said on Wednesday in a news release<br />that the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan; Bain Capital, the American private equity firm; and the Development Bank of Japan had jointly “presented the best proposal.” The size of the bid was not disclosed, but the microchip business is estimated to be worth about $20 billion.<br />Toshiba said in the news release that considerations included “certainty of closing, retention of employees<br />and maintenance of sensitive technology within Japan.”<br />Western Digital, an American data storage company that owns part of a Toshiba semiconductor<br />factory in Japan, has said the sale could not proceed without its consent.<br />By GERRY DOYLEJUNE 21, 2017<br />HONG KONG — Toshiba has picked a Japanese-led consortium to negotiate with over the fate of its multibillion-dollar<br />microchip unit, intensifying a showdown with an American business partner seeking to steer the sale.
