Japanese Toshiba (T: 6502) is close to sell its business for medical equipment production, the cost of which is estimated at 700 billion yen ($ 6.1 billion). And the best chance to buy it has Fujifilm Holdings Corp. and Canon Inc., reported MarketWatch citing informed sources.
According to sources, on Friday the second round of applications for the business purchase will close, and Toshiba will probably choose the buyer next week, with which will start exclusive talks.
Toshiba expects to raise 700 billion yen from the sale of the business; these funds will support the company's financial situation which is seriously deteriorated as a result of the last year reporting scandal.
Another contender for purchasing the Toshiba division for medical equipment production is a consortium of Konica Minolta Inc. and the British private equity fund Permira.
The Toshiba’s unit for production of medical equipment is a premium business. After the financial year, which ended on March 2015, the division's revenue amounted to about 410 billion yen ($ 3.6 billion), and operating profit was 20 billion yen.
The unit produces particularly X-ray equipment and also equipment for computer and magnetic resonance tomography.
The capitalization of the entire Toshiba at the closing of the market on Thursday amounted to 840 billion yen, so business for the production of medical equipment account for the main part of the company's value.
There are over 12 potential buyers that show interest in this division.
Fujifilm and Canon offer is quite attractive, but some of the top managers at Toshiba tend to deal with Fujifilm, counting more significant potential for synergies, the sources noted.
According to Toshiba forecast, in this financial year it will fix a record loss in its 140-year history because of the cancellation of a number of valuable units. The Company expects that its net loss for the year ending on March 31 will be 710 billion yen ($ 6 billion), and operating loss - 430 billion yen.