Japanese banks agree to back Toshiba’s preferred bidder, sources say

FOUR major Japanese banks have agreed to provide a loan totalling 1.2 trillion yen (S$12 billion) to the Japan Industrial Partners-led (JIP) consortium for its buyout offer for Toshiba, people familiar with the matter said.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings have reached a consensus on the basic terms of loans for the JIP-led group, the people said.

The banks are finalising the details and could issue commitment letters as soon as the end of this month, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

As part of the loan agreements, the lenders may propose to nominate a director to the Toshiba’s board, according to the people. An announcement on the bank commitments could come as soon as in the coming days, one of the people said.

Deliberations are ongoing and the banks could still decide not to proceed with the lending, the people said. Representatives for JIP and the banks declined to comment, while a representative for Toshiba said the company can’t comment as it may undermine a fair process.

Winning financing support from banks is crucial to JIP’s consortium as the preferred bidder is looking to take Toshiba private at about 2.2 trillion yen, Bloomberg News has reported. The bidding group has been seeking about 1.2 trillion yen in syndicated loans and the banks were expected to make a decision by the middle of this month, the people have said.

The potential takeover of one of Japan’s most iconic companies faces headwinds including rising financing costs. Interest rates in many countries have risen sharply and major banks are failing to offload tens of billions of US dollars worth of buyout debt that’s still stuck on their own books. BLOOMBERG