Toshiba: Troubled electronics and energy giant to leave stock market after more than 70 years

Troubled electronics and energy giant Toshiba is set to become a private company after more than 70 years on the stock market.

The company, one of Japan’s oldest and biggest firms, is now majority-owned by a Japanese consortium after a 2trn yen (£11bn) tender offer was accepted.

The offer was announced last month when the number of shares purchased exceeded the minimum needed at 78.65%.

Toshiba’s switch to its new parent company TBJH Inc will take place on 27 September.

The move still needs shareholder approval, and a meeting has been set for November, according to Toshiba.

The company will then delist from the Tokyo Stock Exchange within about a month – ending its more than seven-decade history as a listed company.

“Toshiba Group will now take a major step toward a new future with a new shareholder,” said its chief executive, Taro Shimada.

Even after privatisation, the company will “do the right thing” to try to boost its value, he added.

A sprawling accounting scandal, which surfaced in 2015 and involved books being doctored for years, added to woes related to Toshiba’s nuclear energy business.

It faces the daunting and costly task of decommissioning the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, northern Japan, where a tsunami set off three meltdowns in 2011.

The decommissioning effort at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is expected to take decades.

Toshiba’s US nuclear arm Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy in 2017 after years of deep losses as safety costs soared.

Until 2018, Toshiba was earmarked to develop a new power station in Cumbria, but ended up winding up the project.

In 2021, it announced it was breaking itself up – splitting into three separate businesses.

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A leading brand behind rice cookers, TVs, laptops and other products once symbolic of Japan’s technological prowess, Toshiba had billed the takeover led by the consortium of Japanese banks and major companies, known as Japan Industrial Partners, as its last chance for a turnaround.

Toshiba’s board accepted the deal in March.

The company has spun off parts of its operations, including its prized flash-memory business, now known as Kioxia.

Toshiba is a major stakeholder in Kioxia.

Overseas activist investors, who own a significant number of Toshiba’s shares, had initially expressed some dissatisfaction about the bid.

.Analysts say it is unclear whether Toshiba can return to profitability, even with the delisting.

Toshiba’s shares were up 0.2% at 4,604 yen (£25) on Thursday in Tokyo.