Western Digital resubmits bid for Toshiba’s chip unit

tokyo — Western Digital Corp said it and US private equity firm KKR & Co LP have resubmitted a bid for Toshiba Corp’s prized flash memory chip unit — an eleventh hour effort to prevent Toshiba signing a deal with its preferred bidder.

Western Digital, which jointly runs Toshiba’s main semiconductor plant, has been feuding bitterly with its Japanese partner over the sale of the world’s No. 2 producer of NAND chips and has sought a US court injunction to prevent any deal that does not have its consent.

Toshiba is seeking to sign a definitive agreement with a group led by the Japanese government and including Bain Capital which has offered around ¥2 trillion ($18 billion) — by Wednesday, the day of its annual shareholders meeting.

Western Digital will provide debt financing to facilitate a sale as part of the bid, the US firm said in a brief statement.

It was not immediately clear if the resubmitted bid had significantly changed from its previous offer tabled earlier this month.

A representative for the California-based firm declined to comment further while a representative for KKR was not immediately available for comment. Toshiba did not have immediate comment. — Reuters