Toshiba’s US nuclear unit files for bankruptcy protection

TOKYO/WASHINGTON: Japan’s embattled Toshiba Corp. says its US nuclear unit Westinghouse Electric Co. has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Toshiba said in a statement Wednesday that it approved the Chapter 11 filing in the US Bankruptcy Court of New York. The move had been largely expected.

Toshiba is expecting a loss of 500 billion yen ($4.3 billion) for April-December of last year, including a 712.5 billion yen ($6.2 billion) hit from its embattled nuclear business.

Toshiba acquired Westinghouse in 2006 with much fanfare, making nuclear power an important part of its business strategy.

After the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, costs of the business have ballooned because of growing safety concerns and regulations, and a souring of sentiment toward nuclear power in some countries, such as Germany.

The Japanese conglomerate’s shares have lost more than half their market value since late December when Toshiba warned of a flood of red ink at Westinghouse and said it was investigating whistleblower claims of possible accounting fraud by senior executives at the division.

Japanese financial regulators have given the company until April 11 to publish results for the OctoberDecember quarter, which were originally due in midFebruary.