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Toshiba not selling PC division

by on17 November 2017


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Toshiba has said that it has not entered into talks with any company to sell its personal computer business, denying media reports that it was in negotiations to sell the unit to Taiwan’s Asustek.

To be fair, it was not the only outfit supposed to be snuffling around Tosh's hindquarters,  The Nikkei business daily reported. China’s Lenovo had  also expressed interest in the PC unit

Cash-strapped Toshiba has previously said it is looking to sell the PC business, a small part of the industrial conglomerate, as it races to bolster its balance sheet by the end of March to avoid a possible delisting. The PC business accounted for just 3.5 percent of Toshiba’s net revenue in April-September of $747 million and was not worth the effort.

Hit by liabilities arising from its now bankrupt US nuclear unit, Toshiba has been plunged into financial crisis and agreed in September to sell its prized chip unit, Toshiba Memory, to a group led by Bain Capital for $18 billion.

But a highly competitive and contentious auction process led to delays in deciding on the buyer and has meant that Toshiba may not obtain the necessary antitrust clearance by the end of the financial year in March. Without funds from the sale, it is likely to end the year in negative net worth for a second year in a row, putting pressure on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to delist it.

To avoid that, Toshiba is looking at raising $5.3 billion by offering new shares in a third-party allotment - and hopes to finalise the capital injection by the end of the year to allow for shareholder approval.

Toshiba repeated on Friday its stance that it was aiming to close the chip unit deal by the end of March.

It said earlier this week that it would sell its television unit to China’s Hisense Group for $115 million.

Last modified on 17 November 2017
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