TOSHIBA UNIT TO FILE FOR PROTECTION TODAY?
Creditors may prefer Chapter 11 filing for Westinghouse not to come before shareholder meet on Thursday, says source
TOKYO and US governments, can be achieved this week remains to be seen.
Separate sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday Toshiba had informed its main banks that it was planning a March 31 filing for Westinghouse — the centre of its multi-billion dollar crisis.
“A March 28 filing is one proposal. The thinking is that it would great if we could pull that off but whether it goes that well or not is another issue,” said the source with direct knowledge.
Westinghouse has been plagued by huge cost overruns and the financial maelstrom has already caused Toshiba to put up its prized memory chip unit for sale, consider a sale of a majority stake in the US nuclear unit and miss deadlines to file earnings that have put it at risk of a delisting.
At Thursday’s shareholder meeting, Toshiba will seek approval for the sale of the chip unit.
While a Chapter 11 filing for Westinghouse would be done by the US unit’s board and would not require approval by Toshiba’s shareholders, a filing on the same day or directly before or after will boost the chances of contentious shareholder meet.
For that reason, Toshiba’s main banks would prefer the Chapter 11 filing not come before the shareholder meeting, said a financial source with knowledge of the matter.
A Chapter 11 filing for Westinghouse is set to increase charges related to the unit to one trillion yen (RM39.97 billion) from a publicly flagged 712.5 billion yen estimate, sources have said. Reuters