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☆ The long-running crisis at Japan's Toshiba
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Makiko Yamazaki | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Faced with more than $6 billion in liabilities linked to Westinghouse, Toshiba decides to put prized chip unit Toshiba Memory up for sale. Nov. 2021 - Toshiba says it will split into three companies, one for energy, one for infrastructure and the third to manage its Kioxia stake. Feb. 2022 - Toshiba announces a new plan to split into two, spinning off only its devices unit. April 2022 - Toshiba sets up a special committee to resume a strategic review that could see it taken private. Under pressure from shareholders, Toshiba announces a special dividend of some $545 million.

☆ Toshiba board accepts Japan Industrial Partners' $15 billion buyout proposal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Toshiba Corp's board has accepted a buyout offer from a group led by private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners, valuing the company at 2 trillion yen ($15.2 billion), the company said on Thursday. A successful deal would see the scandal-ridden industrial conglomerate taken private and firmly in domestic hands after much tension with overseas activist shareholders. Some 20 Japanese companies including financial services firm Orix Corp, chipmaker Rohm Co <6963.T> and Chubu Electric Power plan to take part in the deal, sources have said. Toshiba started an auction process about a year ago, receiving eight initial buyout proposals as well as two offers for capital alliances. The JIP consortium last month submitted a binding buyout proposal backed by $10.6 billion in loan commitments from major banks.

☆ Toshiba board agrees to accept JIP's $15.3 bln buyout proposal -Nikkei
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The logo of Toshiba Corp is seen at the company's facility in Kawasaki, Japan June 10, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File PhotoTOKYO, March 23 (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp's (6502.T) board on Thursday agreed to accept a buyout proposal worth around 2 trillion yen ($15.3 billion) from a consortium led by private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), the Nikkei business daily reported. The JIP consortium last month submitted a binding buyout proposal backed by $10.6 billion in loan commitments from major banks. It has taken weeks for the board to proceed with a vote on JIP's proposal as some board members were dissatisfied with its offer price, sources have said. "If the early reports are correct, this ends months of uncertainty regarding whether a deal was coming and years of uncertainty regarding Board understanding of the right price," said analyst Travis Lundy of Quiddity Advisors, who publishes on Smartkarma.

☆ These 74 stocks across 5 categories of AI are the top picks from the sector's leading fund managers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

These 74 stocks are picked by AI ETF managers. What she believes is unique about her fund is its heavy focus on quantum computing technology, making up 41.22% of the fund. While big data is used for different technologies, it enables AI to work with massive data sets in its machine-learning process. TipRanks, a financial technology website that uses AI to analyze financial data, created a stock list for what they deem are the best AI stocks based on popularity. TipRanks' list of nine of the best AI stocks have large market caps and are likely to remain relevant for a long time.

"Until now, the ministry has taken the defence companies for granted," said Masahisa Sato, an influential ruling party lawmaker and former deputy defence minister. Three of them, Mitsubishi Heavy, Mitsubishi Electric and IHI Corp (7013.T), which makes jet engines, bridges and heavy machinery, confirmed they had also taken part in other lower-level discussions. Reuters asked 10 of Japan's military suppliers, including Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric, Daikin and Subaru, for interviews with their defence unit managers. Despite diplomatic tensions, China is Japan's top trade partner and a major manufacturing base for many Japanese companies. Even so, Japanese companies often refer to their military products as "special equipment," the government official said.

☆ Toshiba warns on profit after Q3 slump; COO resigns over expenses
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Makiko Yamazaki | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Toshiba Corp FollowTOKYO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T) slashed its annual earnings estimate after third-quarter profit slumped, while its chief operating officer resigned over the inappropriate use of entertainment expenses some years ago. Hit by weak demand for hard disk drives due to reduced investments in data, Toshiba said quarterly operating profit tumbled 88% to 5.3 billion yen ($40.4 million), far less than a Refinitiv consensus estimate of 37 billion yen. The industrial conglomerate also took a large charge relating to an old project for its power generation systems business. Its profit estimate for the year ending in March was cut by a quarter to 95 billion yen. Toshiba said COO Goro Yanase had resigned over the inappropriate use of entertainment expenses in 2019 when he was an executive at a company unit.

FIS plans to pursue a tax-free spin-off of its merchant business, which processes payments for companies, the sources said. The spin-off will take many months to be completed, and FIS will also entertain any acquisition offers for the unit during this period, the sources added. Much of FIS's merchant business consists of Worldpay, which it bought for $43 billion in 2019. The sources cautioned that no transaction is certain and asked not to be identified discussing confidential deliberations. Merchant solutions makes up about 30% of the company's revenue, while its banking solutions arm constitutes about 46%, and capital market solutions the remainder.

"The company has received a proposal from the JIP consortium," Toshiba said in a statement. Two of the sources said major Japanese banks, including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T), had issued letters of commitment to provide 1.4 trillion yen ($10.6 billion) in loans to the group. The final buyout proposal would also include an equity portion of about 1 trillion yen, they said. The Nikkei business daily reported the total value of the buyout proposal was around 2 trillion yen. JIP was then asked by Toshiba to provide commitment letters from banks by Nov. 7, something it was unable to do.

Major Japanese banks, including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T), had issued letters of commitment to provide the loans to the JIP-led group, said two of the sources, who declined to be identified because the information has not been made public. The 1.4 trillion yen of loans included a commitment line of 200 billion yen for working capital, the sources said. The final buyout proposal would also include an equity portion of about 1 trillion yen, they said. The Nikkei business daily reported a final buyout proposal worth around 2 trillion yen. The banks asked Toshiba to promise the sale of underperforming businesses if earnings deteriorated after a buyout was concluded, sources, including those who spoke on Thursday, have previously said.

Major Japanese banks, including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T), have issued letters of commitment to provide the loans to the JIP-led group, said the sources, who declined to be identified because the information has not been made public. The Nikkei business daily reported a final buyout proposal worth around 2 trillion yen had been submitted. Sources said the 1.4 trillion yen of loans included a commitment line of 200 billion yen for working capital. Toshiba named the JIP-led group as its preferred bidder in October. The private equity firm was then asked by Toshiba to provide commitment letters from banks by Nov. 7, something it was unable to secure by that date.

☆ The AI craze has sent some stocks soaring up to 300%. This list of over 74 stocks across 5 categories features the top picks from the sector's leading fund managers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

☆ Tokyo booms for shareholder-relations advisers as activists raise pressure
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Makiko Yamazaki | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] Men walk past an electric board displaying Nikkei and other countries' indexes outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan January 16, 2023. At that company, activist shareholders have forced board changes, rejected the management's turnaround plan and prompted the company to consider going private to remove them. Shareholder relations advisers do that, too, and they say they are generally more focused on longer-term strategies. EY announced a foray into shareholder relations in Japan in December, with a full-service line-up from identification of shareholders to proxy solicitation. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp said it would continue to expand its shareholder-relations support unit, Japan Shareholder Services Ltd (JSS), which now has about 80 staff members.

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp has built a "significant" stake in Japanese automotive battery component supplier Dai Nippon Printing Co Ltd (DNP) (7912.T), sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. A DNP spokesperson said the company had confirmed Elliott's investment late last year, but declined to comment on details. The Financial Times, which first reported the news, said Elliott now holds a stake just under 5% worth $300 million. Elliott declined to comment. It recently won a board seat at Pinterest Inc (PINS.N) when the company added Elliott portfolio manager Marc Steinberg as a director.

☆ Western Digital, Kioxia in advanced talks for merger - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A Western Digital office building is shown in Irvine, California, U.S., January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Mike BlakeJan 20 (Reuters) - Memory chip maker Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) and Japan's Kioxia Holdings Corp are in advanced talks for a possible merger which will involve a dual-listing, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. A combined Kioxia-Western Digital would control a third of the NAND flash market, putting it on par with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) . Western Digital and Kioxia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Kioxia, one of the biggest producers globally of flash memory and solid-state storage, is a key supplier to Western Digital.

☆ Toshiba buyout heralds a big step back for Japan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

MUMBAI, Jan 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The end of a long battle to wring some value from Toshiba (6502.T) is finally within reach. Such an outcome won’t encourage private equity firms, and big policy shifts underway may stifle the industry just as it hits a new high. Instead, after an accounting scandal in 2015, Toshiba came to epitomise Japan Inc’s pervasive value destruction. Japan typically outperforms private equity deals in other developed markets, partly because existing incentive structures for company bosses are so poor. The country’s private equity industry is only just finding its feet.

HONG KONG, Jan 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Western Digital (WDC.O) faces a daunting M&A challenge. Both outfits specialise in a type of memory chip called NAND flash, which is used in smartphones, computers and data centre servers. Yet even if the logic for a combination looks more compelling against this backdrop, the M&A hurdles Western Digital faced in 2021 are even more challenging today. The union between Western Digital and Kioxia will be a long slog, but worth it. Shares of Western Digital rose 7.7% to $35.63 during after-hours trading in New York on Jan. 4.

☆ Western Digital, Japan's Kioxia restart merger talks - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 4 (Reuters) - Memory chip maker Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) and Japan's Kioxia Holdings Corp have restarted merger talks, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Kioxia, which was spun off from Toshiba Corp (6502.T), and Western Digital operate a joint flash memory chip plant in central Japan's Yokkaichi. When asked about the report, Kioxia said that it does not comment on market rumours or speculation, while Western Digital did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. U.S.-based memory chip firm Western Digital said in June that it was reviewing strategic alternatives, including options for splitting off its flash-memory and hard disk drive businesses. Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The 1.4 trillion yen includes 200 billion yen in working capital, they said. The main banking arms of Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc (8309.T) are together expected to lend more than 1 trillion yen, three sources said. The core bank unit of Japan's biggest financial group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T) and Aozora Bank Ltd (8304.T) are also participating, they added. Spokespeople for all five banks declined to comment. Toshiba named a JIP-led group as its preferred bidder in October for the buyout process.

☆ Toshiba's preferred bidder to seal $10.6 bln loan deal this week -Yomiuri
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), the preferred bidder to buy out Toshiba Corp (6502.T), is set to sign a loan agreement of about 1.4 trillion yen ($10.6 billion) with lenders this week, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Thursday. The loans include a commitment line of 200 billion yen, the paper said. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (8316.T) and Mizuho Bank (8411.T) would provide about 400 billion yen to 500 billion yen each, it said. The deal is expected to value the industrial conglomerate at around 2.2 trillion yen, although the Nikkei business daily reported at the weekend that JIP could lower it to below 2 trillion yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and Mizuho Bank both declined to comment on the Yomiuri report.

☆ Recovery in Asia M&A, stuck at 8-year-lows, rests on macro conditions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Kane Wu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Deals are set to revive slowly as companies and funds watch out for easier macroeconomic conditions, they said. "This will provide a more stable backdrop for the return of a more robust M&A market," said Maliah. Deals in private equity, a major M&A driver, amounted to $139 billion as of Dec. 15, down 52% on all of 2021. "Banks' ability to write big-size checks is still much challenged," said Samson Lo, UBS's co-head of Asia-Pacific M&A. An improvement in Asian equity capital market volumes from three-year lows will also help M&A deals, dealmakers said.

☆ 23 major brands suspected of illegally sourcing products made by forced labor in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

And more ...Mary Meisenzahl/InsiderThese companies have also been suspected of having direct or indirect ties to Chinese forced labor in the aforementioned reports. Bosch"Bosch is committed to ensuring that its products are not produced wholly or in part by forced labor. "Compliance with human rights, labor rights and environmental standards is a top priority at PUMA and has been specified in our Codes of Conduct for over 20 years." As stated in our Business Conduct Guidelines, we reject all forms of oppression, forced labor and participation in human rights violations. We will continue to respect human rights and take a strong stand against forced labor."

☆ Toshiba's preferred bidder may lower valuation below 2 trillion yen, Nikkei reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), the preferred bidder to buy out Toshiba Corp (6502.T), may lower the valuation from the planned 2.2 trillion yen ($16.09 billion) to levels below 2 trillion yen, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday. Even though JIP has secured funding worth 1 trillion yen in equity from domestic companies and 1.2 trillion yen in loans from major banks, it may cut the valuation in light of a recent deterioration in Toshiba's earnings and the need for post-buyout working capital, the Nikkei said. Toshiba said in a letter to shareholders on Friday that it was aiming to reach a conclusion with potential partners as soon as possible. read moreIt is "planning to receive binding and bona-fide proposal(s) and shall be making strong efforts to arrive at a conclusion as early as possible after necessary negotiations," the letter said. ($1 = 136.6900 yen)Reporting by Tokyo Newsroom; Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Toshiba says aims to reach deal with potential partners soon as possible
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T), which is talks about a buyout, said in a letter to shareholders on Friday that it was aiming to reach as conclusion with potential partners as soon as possible. Toshiba is "planning to receive binding and bona-fide proposal(s) and shall be making strong efforts to arrive at a conclusion as early as possible after necessary negotiations," the letter said. Sources have told Reuters that the company's preferred bidder, Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), was moving closer to securing financing from banks for a buyout. A deal is expected to value the industrial conglomerate at around 2.2 trillion yen ($16 billion). Shares in Toshiba, whose businesses span nuclear power, defence technology and which owns 40% of memory chip maker Kioxia Holdings, were up 1.7% in mid-morning trade.

TOKYO/HONG KONG, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Japan Industrial Partners, the preferred bidder to buy out Toshiba Corp (6502.T), has moved closer to securing financing from banks, three people with knowledge of the matter said. JIP's bid has called for Toshiba management to retain their jobs - a proposal which initially made some of the banks cautious about lending, sources have said. The sources all declined to be identified as the talks are private. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, the core unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (8316.T), and Mizuho Bank Ltd, the core unit of Mizuho Financial Group Inc (8411.T) declined to comment. ($1 = 137.0500 yen)Reporting by Kane Wu, Makiko Yamazaki and Ritsuko Shimizu; Editing by Edwina GibbsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fuji Soft proxy fight the latest test of Japan Inc board independence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Makiko Yamazaki | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Three battles in recent months have questioned how independent from management Japan's outside board members really are after nearly a decade of governance reform has sharply increased the number of independent directors. Governance experts say outside directors are only nominally independent if they have close ties to management or fail to give proper oversight. 3D, which owns more than 20% of Fuji Soft, has nominated four additional members for the company's nine-member board at Sunday's extraordinary general meeting (EGM), saying existing outside directors have failed to address years of inefficient capital allocation. The Yokohama-based firm defended its current board, telling Reuters in a statement that the independence of its outside directors "has been ensured with no conflict of interests with shareholders. JSF has a statutory nomination committee, but Strategic Capital said its inaction over the troubled practice shows the committee is dysfunctional.

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