Toshiba to consider going private under new review panel

Group suspends sales of elevator and lighting operations

Apr 08 (Nikkei) - Toshiba on Thursday formed a special committee to review strategic options including going private, while hitting pause on a breakup plan that was rejected by shareholders last month.

Toshiba's management team will lead discussions with private equity funds and other potential investors. The new committee, composed of six independent directors, will analyze different offers and structures to "identify the privatization offer that is best for our diverse stakeholders," the company said in a statement.

The committee will disclose information from the review before Toshiba's annual shareholders meeting in June.

The management team will separately develop a new business plan, which will be announced before the meeting, Toshiba said.

Toshiba announced a plan last November to break itself up into three companies, revised to a two-way split in February. Management had hoped to win shareholder support for the move in an extraordinary meeting last month, but the proposal was voted down. The company said it would communicate a future direction once a decision had been made. ...continue reading

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