Toshiba’s atomic unit to file for bankruptcy

TOSHIBA’S loss-hit US nuclear unit could be placed under bankruptcy protection as early as this week, a report said yesterday.

Westinghouse Electric is likely to file for Chapter 11 today and is eyeing Korea Electric Power Co to help with its subsequent restructuring, Japan’s Nikkei business daily said, without citing sources.

The two firms already have a technology partnership.

Toshiba’s stock ended a seesaw session at 218.4 yen, down 2.06 percent.

The company has lost more than half its market value since late December, when it warned of multibillion-dollar losses at Westinghouse and said it was investigating claims of accounting fraud by senior executives at the division.

A Toshiba spokesman declined to comment on yesterday’s Nikkei report.

“The fluctuations today are linked to the recent volatility in Toshiba shares,” Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCos- mo Securities, told AFP. “There will likely be more selling if US authorities criticise the bankruptcy restructuring.”

Toshiba has said it would try to sell Westinghouse, once lauded as the future of its atomic business after the 2011 Fukushima disaster sidelined new orders in Japan.

Japanese financial regulators have given the company until April 11 to publish results for the October-December quarter, which were originally due in mid-February.

Toshiba has twice delayed their release, saying it needed more time to probe claims of misconduct by senior managers at Westinghouse.

Toshiba previously warned it was on track to report a net loss of 390 billion yen ($3.5 billion) in the fiscal year to March, as it faced a 700-billion-yen writedown at Westinghouse.

This month, Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating on Toshiba again, warning that its finances were quickly worsening.