Toshiba wants funds not peers to buy chip stake: source

[TOKYO] Toshiba Corp wants investment funds including Bain Capital to buy a stake in its flash memory business rather than industry peers such as Micron Technology Inc because doing so will speed up the planned sale, a source said.

Toshiba needs to raise funds by the end of March to offset an imminent multi-billion dollar writedown on its US nuclear power business. There may not be enough time to conclude a deal with another chipmaker, said the source with direct knowledge of the plan.

Micron Technology, SK Hynix Inc and Toshiba's current memory partner Western Digital Corp have submitted initial bids for a stake that Toshiba says will be less than 20 per cent of its NAND flash unit, two other sources familiar with the bidding told Reuters.

The world's biggest maker of flash memory, Samsung Electronics Co, is not among bidders, the sources said. The sources asked not to be identified because they are not authorised to talk to the media.

SK Hynix and Bain Capital declined to comment and Toshiba said it could not comment on specifics of the sale process. Micron Technology was not immediately available for comment.

One of the sources said that Toshiba may eventually seek investment from other chipmakers once its financial crisis has passed.

REUTERS