Toshiba may be able to have its chips and eat them, too

Toshiba Corp. looks to be selling everything. Except its chip business. If ever there was a sign the embattled Japanese firm doesn’t expect — or dare we say it, want — to offload its prized unit to Bain Capital LP and friends, it’s the garage sale that was suddenly launched on Sunday.
Toshiba announced plans to sell 600 billion yen ($5.4 billion) of new shares by December 5. In a separate statement, the company said it may jettison some of the assets in its Westinghouse operations, the struggling nuclear business that started the mess in the first place. Last week, Toshiba said it was selling its once-famous television arm to Chinese electronics group Hisense Electric Co. for 12.9 billion yen.
Everything you need to know about these moves is outlined in one paragraph from Toshiba here:
If the financing successfully completes, and the claims against Westinghouse and interests related to Westinghouse are sold, it is expected that 750 billion yen of negative consolidated balance sheet will be remedied as of the end of March 31, 2018, and thereby Toshiba’s pressing challenge will be resolved. But what of the 2 trillion yen deal Toshiba inked for 49.9 percent of its chip operations? That unit is Toshiba’s crown jewel, contributing 18.4 percent of total sales but almost 70 percent of operating profit last fiscal year.
There are already two forces standing in the way of the transaction being done soon, if at all.
First, antitrust regulators globally will have to sign off on the deal. China’s Ministry of Commerce, for instance, may have a problem with some of the Bain consortium members, such as Apple Inc. or Dell Inc. In the mix is also SK Hynix Inc., one of the world’s largest chipmakers and South Korean to boot. Relations between
Beijing and Seoul aren’t exactly smooth right now.
Second, Western Digital Corp., Toshiba’s memory-venture partner that failed in its own attempt to win the chip business, is fighting the sale in the US. The pair may still resolve the legal feud, but until they do, the clock will keep ticking.
By selling shares, and the rights to any upside from its Westinghouse legal battles, Toshiba makes the chip sale less pressing. Gadfly has argued before that Toshiba was merely pawning the business anyway.
Investor reaction to Sunday’s news was negative, as was to be expected. But if this transpires to be a way for Toshiba to avoid selling its most profitable business, that sour mood may turn pretty quick.
— Bloomberg