Japanese tech giant Toshiba accepts $15 billion offer

Japanese electronics and technology maker Toshiba has accepted an offer of 2 trillion yen ($15 billion) from a buyout fund made up of the country’s largest banks and companies.

Japan Industrial Partners was founded in 2002 to restructure Japanese companies. Companies it has invested in include Sony, Hitachi, Olympus and NEC.

Toshiba announced Thursday that its board has accepted the offer of 4,620 yen ($36) per share. Toshiba closed at 4,213 yen ($32) per share and is trading at 4,474 yen ($34) early Friday.

The offer is the latest chapter in the company’s turnaround, which could see it delisted and delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

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Foreign activist investors own a significant portion of Toshiba’s shares, and it’s unclear whether they’ll be happy with the latest bid.

If the deal is successful, Toshiba’s company will remain Japanese in an alliance with Japanese partners.

According to Japanese media, the consortium includes about 20 Japanese companies, such as Orix Corp., a financial services company, electronics manufacturer Rohm Co. and the mega banks such as Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Toshiba has faced controversy for years, starting with an accounting scandal in 2005.

US nuclear arm Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy in 2017 after years of heavy losses as safety costs soared.

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This photo illustration taken in Tokyo shows a Toshiba Corp logo on a printed circuit board. (REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao / Reuters Photos)

Toshiba is also involved in the decommissioning of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, which was severely damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Toshiba has had several presidents over the years.

The latest proposal has yet to be reviewed by regulators in several countries, including the US, Vietnam, Germany and Morocco.

That process is expected to take several months.

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The logo of Toshiba Corp. can be seen in a company building in Kawasaki, near Tokyo. ((AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File) / AP Newsroom)

Toshiba has been trying to go private for the past few years. Proposals to split Toshiba into three and then two companies were rejected by shareholders.

The company first received a buyout offer from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in April 2021, which was subsequently rejected for lack of details.

Interest in Toshiba by Japan Industrial Partners was first reported last October.

Last month, Toshiba cut its fiscal year profit forecast to 130 billion yen ($1 billion), down from an earlier forecast of 190 billion yen ($1.5 billion).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.