Chinese antitrust regulators have given the greenlight to an $18 billion purchase of Toshiba’s memory-chip unit by U.S. private-equity firm Bain Capital after months of deliberation.
The deal was agreed between buyer and seller last year, with Bain taking a 49.9% stake and Toshiba retaining 40.2%. With the approval received, the deal will be executed on 1st June, said Toshiba.
Sources told the Wall Street Journal that many parties involved had begun to make contingency plans on the expectation that the deal would not go ahead, in light of recent trade disputes between the U.S. and China regarding the tech industry. U.S. telecoms firm Qualcomm is currently battling for Chinese approval to buy out NXP semiconductors for $44 billion.