Toshiba has agreed to sell its semiconductor subsidiary to a consortium that includes its current business partner, Western Digital, and two Japanese government-backed funds.
Under the agreement, the ratio of voting rights held by WD will be kept to less than one-third of all the voting rights of subsidiary Toshiba Memory, sources quoted by THE ASAHI SHIMBUN said on Aug. 26.
Toshiba plans to conclude the final agreement with member organizations of the group by the end of this month at the earliest after deciding details of the agreement with them, the report added.
The group includes not only WD but also U.S. investment fund KKR & Co. and two Japanese government-backed funds, Innovation Network Corp. of Japan (INCJ) and Development Bank of Japan Inc. (DBJ).
Toshiba is forced to sell plans to sell the subsidiary to the consortium for about 2 trillion yen ($18.3 billion), in order to cover massive losses from its U.S. nuclear business.
WD plans to withdraw its appeal to an international court of arbitration that was aimed at stopping the sale of Toshiba Memory to buyers other than WD.