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 U.S. 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 yen
($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 U.S. 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.
The
crisis-wracked Japanese conglomerate is rushing to sell the unit to cover
billions of dollars in cost overruns at its bankrupt Westinghouse nuclear unit
and to dig itself out of negative shareholders' equity that could lead to a
delisting.
Toshiba's
board members are expected to gather and discuss whether to sign off on the
Japanese government-led consortium's bid on Tuesday.
Western
Digital's previous bid also included state-backed fund, the Innovation Network
Corp of Japan (INCJ), and satisfied the 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) minimum
set by Toshiba.
INCJ is
currently part of the consortium that was chosen as the preferred bidder.
Reuters*
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