YOKKAICHI, Japan: Toshiba Corp. expects the sale of its $18 billion memory chip business to be completed by June at the latest, if not by an agreed deadline of the end of March, as it awaits antitrust regulatory approval from China.
“We’ve been making various efforts to close the deal in March,” Yasuo Naruke, the head of Toshiba’s chip unit, told reporters on Friday.
Even if the deal did not close by then, it would close “at some point in April, May or June,” Naruke said during his visit to a new chip R&D center in central Japan.
Toshiba agreed last year to sell the semiconductor business — the world’s second-biggest producer of NAND flash memory chips — to a consortium led by US private equity firm Bain Capital to plug a huge financial hole left by the bankruptcy of its US nuclear unit.
It is widely viewed as unlikely to gain the necessary regulatory clearance by the end of the financial year in March, however, as Chinese reviews usually take at least six months.
Toshiba is in less of a rush to finalize the deal since it received injections of capital late last year from overseas investors. If it does not complete the deal by March, it has the option of walking away, sources have said.
Some activist shareholders have opposed the sale, arguing that the fresh capital made it unnecessary.
The flash memory chip business has been the source of most of Toshiba’s earnings as the company struggles to grow other core businesses such as social infrastructure.
Toshiba expects to complete chip unit sale by June at latest
Toshiba expects to complete chip unit sale by June at latest
Stc Group issues US dollar-denominated sukuk with a total value of $2bn
RIYADH: Stc Group has issued US dollar-denominated sukuk with a total value of $2 billion across two tranches.
The group clarified that the issuance included the offering of $750 million in sukuk with a 5-year maturity at a yield of US Treasury plus 75 basis points, and an issuance of $1.250 billion with a 10-year maturity at a yield of UST plus 90 basis points, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
It noted that the total order book exceeded $8 billion across both tranches, with a coverage rate exceeding 4 times, and participation from over 300 investors in the subscription.
The issuance garnered strong demand from a broad and diverse base of international investors, reflecting solid confidence in the robustness and efficiency of stc Group’s business model and strategy.
This strategy is aimed at strengthening its digital leadership, seizing infrastructure opportunities, enabling massive projects, and contributing to the realization of Vision 2030 objectives, with a focus on achieving sustainable growth based on operational efficiency and maximizing shareholder value.
This issuance enhances stc Group’s access to international capital markets and solidifies investor confidence in the strength of its credit position.
It also supports its strategic role in accelerating the pace of digital transformation in the Kingdom and building a thriving digital economy.
