Toshiba said to seek bids for chip unit at 1.5 trillion yen value

New York

TOSHIBA Corp is sending letters soliciting offers for its memory chip business this week and seeking bids that value it at about 1.5 trillion yen (S$18.8 billion), according to people familiar with the matter.

The Japanese conglomerate is offering a majority stake in the chip unit and would be willing to sell the entire business, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. A 1.5 trillion yen valuation for the whole operation would be below earlier reports the chip unit could fetch two trillion or 2.5 trillion yen.