Toshiba prepares to sell stake in unit of chips

Tokyo-the Japanese Toshiba began preparations to sell a minority stake in its chip business, said people with knowledge of the matter, since it seeks financing urgently to avoid being harmed by a multi-billion-dollar loss for coming.
The industrial conglomerate has distributed forms of non-disclosure agreements for various funds, including private equity firm Silver Lake, said one of the people.
The semiconductor unit – second largest producer of NAND flash memory after Samsung Electronics – is the jewel in the Crown of Toshiba, responsible for most of its operating profit.
Before a loss in their business in United States nuclear that the media reported that can reach 6 billion dollars, the sale of part of the chip business is one of the few options left open to Toshiba, still down by an accounting scandal of 2015.
Toshiba is rushing to split its Division of chips and complete a sale of participation until the end of the fiscal year in March, once a low expressive could end the equity that has been reduced to just 3 billion following the scandal.
"Toshiba is desperate to avoid being with negative equity," said one of the people.
The sources asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the subject.
A Toshiba spokesman said the company may separate your business from memory chips and sell a stake, but cannot comment on the specifics of the process. The Silver Lake declined to comment.