Toshiba Succeeds At Selling Itself, Delisting Set For September 27

Troubled Japanese tech concern Toshiba has announced [PDF] the completion of a tender offer that will see it move into private ownership.

The offer concluded on September 20, and the company has set September 27 as the date on which TBJH Inc – an entity created by Japan Industrial Partners, Inc specifically to acquire Toshiba – will take over.

The buyer's website describes it as a "partner for revitalisation and growth of industries in Japan."

Toshiba can certainly do with some revitalization. Over the last decade the conglomerate has endured a finance scandal, a governance scandal, and a hot mess at its nuclear power business.

Attempts to address those issues also made trouble. A plan for a three-way split could not find investor support. Nor did a revised two-way split find favor.

JIP expressed a desire to step in, and stitched up the necessary finance. Toshiba management eventually got behind a plan to shop its shares knowing that JIP would bid.

But the tender process meant that at least two thirds of shares had to be snapped up for a transaction to succeed.

Today's notice from Toshiba confirms that offers for 340,459,163 shares were received – a number that will deliver 78.65 percent of voting rights to JIP.

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The outfit's specific intentions are not known, beyond a promise to bring Toshiba stability, realize Toshiba's growth potential, and a willingness to "Foster a focus on medium- to long-term growth over short-term results."

But just what that means for Toshiba's sprawling portfolio is not clear. The Japanese conglomerate makes trains, semiconductors, heavyweight energy infrastructure, printers, batteries, quantum key distribution systems, and plenty more besides. Which of those are seen as priority investments – or possible discards – remains to be seen.

But at least Toshiba has reached a moment at which those decisions will be made by entities who had no role in its many past problems. ®