According to the company’s announcement on Thursday, the board of Toshiba Corp. accepted a $15.2 billion takeover offer from a group led by private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners, potentially putting an end to years of turmoil at the conglomerate.
After much conflict with foreign activist shareholders, a successful purchase would see the scandal-plagued company taken private and securely in local hands, valued at 4,620 yen per share or 2 trillion yen overall. But it’s still unclear whether the conditions will satisfy activist funds. Just a 9.7% premium over Thursday’s closing price of 4,213 yen would be provided by the offer price.
In a filing, Toshiba stated that the board would not advise shareholders to tender their shares.
Before the JIP group launches the tender offer in late July, it was also said that the board’s support might alter.
The JIP bid, however, is “the only full proposal” that has been made during a year-long competitive auction process and would allow stockholders to sell their shares, according to Toshiba.
The analyst Travis Lundy of Quiddity Advisors remarked, “This resolves months of ambiguity surrounding whether a sale was coming and years of doubt regarding board knowledge of the correct price.”