Toshiba prefers US-Japan bidder for memory chip biz sale
TOKYO — Toshiba Corp. has chosen a U.S.-Japan consortium as the preferred bidder in the sale of its lucrative memory chip business. The troubled Japanese electronics giant has had deep recent losses and has been selling pieces of its operations to ensure its survival.
Tokyo-based Toshiba said Wednesday the board of directors selected the consortium of Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, Bain Capital Private Equity and the Development Bank of Japan as the preferred bidder in the sale of Toshiba Memory Corp.
The company’s U.S. Westinghouse nuclear operations have racked up massive red ink. Reactors it has been building are still unfinished, partly because of beefed up safety regulations following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Westinghouse Electric Co. filed for bankruptcy protection in March.
Toshiba’s attempt to gain cash from the chip operations sale has not gone smoothly.