Troubled Toshiba, Bain Finalize Sale Of Memory-Chip Business

Toshiba and a consortium led by Bain Capital Private Equity signed a deal Thursday for the sale of the Japanese electronics company’s computer memory chip business, a move long opposed by Toshiba’s U.S. joint venture partner Western Digital.

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The consortium includes Apple Inc. and Dell Technologies Capital as U.S. investors, who will not acquire common stock or voting rights over the business. The sale of Toshiba Memory Corp. is priced at 2 trillion yen ($18 billion).

The deal was widely expected as Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp., which also has railroad and nuclear energy units, had announced it earlier, and the board signed off on it last week.

But Western Digital has repeatedly opposed the sale of the NAND flash-memory SanDisk joint venture, stressing it will continue with legal action. Toshiba reiterated in a statement that it will go ahead with the deal, despite any litigation or moves by Western Digital to block the deal.