US tech titans Apple Inc and Dell Inc have joined a bid to buy Toshiba Corp’s memorychip business, a deal seen as key to the survival of the cash-stripped Japanese industrial conglomerate, the US investor leading the consortium has said.
“Last week, Bain Capital made a revised offer” for Toshiba, which “brings in a broad list of strategic partners including Apple, Dell” and others who will invest in the business, Bain Capital said in a statement yesterday.
It was the first time Apple’s name has been officially confirmed as part of the bid, although it has reportedly also been involved in rival bids for the lucrative Toshiba segment.
Photo: AFP
The iPhone maker is in talks to provide about US$3 billion in capital for the bid. If the agreement is completed, it might exceed Apple’s largest deal, the US$3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics LLC.
The announcement came after Toshiba last week said that it had picked the Bain Capital-led consortium as the leading candidate to buy its prized chip business in a deal reportedly worth about US$18 billion.
The development was the latest twist in a long-running saga as Toshiba agonizes between three groups of suitors for its chip business.
The Bain Capital-led group also includes the state-backed Development Bank of Japan and the public-private Innovation Network Corp of Japan as well as South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc.
However, Toshiba has said that it was a “non-exclusive” agreement with Bain Capital that “does not exclude the possibility of negotiations with other consortia.”
Other suitors in the frame are a group led by Western Digital Corp, Toshiba’s US-based chip factory partner, and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), better known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康).
Toshiba is aiming to finalize the deal at a board meeting on Wednesday, despite opposition from partner Western Digital, according to people familiar with the matter.
Toshiba’s effort faces resistance because the Bain Capital-led group includes several Western Digital competitors, including Seagate Technology PLC, Kingston Technology Co and SK Hynix, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is not public.
Toshiba has sued Western Digital for trying to block the sales process.
“We believe this proposal represents a solution that meets the needs of all stakeholders,” Bain Capital said in the latest statement.
The proposal “represents the best possible outcome for Toshiba by ensuring” the memorychip business’ independence, Bain Capital said.
Kaori Hiraki, a spokeswoman for Toshiba, said she could not comment on the details of the deal.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last