It is reported that two people familiar with the matter said today that Japan industrial partners (JIP) and Polaris capital group are both considering participating in the bidding for Toshiba Last month, Toshiba set up a special committee to explore various strategic options, including potential privatization transactions.
People familiar with the matter said that compared with major private equity companies in the world, the scale of JIP and Polaris capital is much smaller, which means that both companies need to cooperate with other companies to successfully bid for Toshiba.
Analysts said that it is also crucial for Japanese funds to participate in the bidding for Toshiba. Because some of Toshiba's assets, including defense equipment and nuclear power, are considered to have important strategic significance in Japan.
Although JIP and Polaris capital are not well-known in overseas markets, the two companies have been actively participating in the business divestiture of large Japanese enterprises. For example, JIP acquired Olympus' camera business last year and Sony's notebook computer business in 2014. Polaris acquired Fujitsu's mobile phone business in 2018.
Toshiba has previously said that it has signed confidentiality agreements with 10 potential investors and sponsors and is seeking opinions on privatization and other strategic alternatives. Toshiba said that the 10 companies received detailed information about Toshiba's business and finance after signing the agreement. In addition, the deadline for potential investors to submit non binding proposals is May 30.
A Toshiba spokesman said: "we will update shareholders on this process and publicly announce the number of non binding proposals received from potential partners and an overview of the proposed transaction structure before the annual general meeting in June."