Toshiba’s preferred bidder to seal $10.6-B loan deal this week – Yomiuri

TOKYO  – Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), the preferred bidder to buy out Toshiba Corp, is set to sign a loan agreement of about 1.4 trillion yen ($10.62 billion) with lenders some time this week, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Thursday.

Toshiba’s shares surged on the report and were up 5 percent in mid-afternoon trade.

The loans include a commitment line of 200 billion yen, the paper said. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Mizuho Bank would provide about 400 billion to 500 billion yen each, it said.

Toshiba had said in a letter to shareholders last week that it was aiming to reach a conclusion with potential partners as soon as possible, while sources have told Reuters JIP was moving closer to securing financing from banks.

The deal is expected to value the industrial conglomerate at around 2.2 trillion yen, although the Nikkei business daily reported at the weekend that JIP could lower it to below 2 trillion yen.

Financial services group Orix Corp, chipmaker Rohm Co Ltd and Japan Post Bank Co are among the Japanese companies likely to join JIP in its bid, providing a combined 1 trillion yen, sources have said previously.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and Mizuho Bank both declined to comment on the Yomiuri report.