Bloomberg reports that Western Digital Corporation turned to the Toshiba management with some comments on the observed buyer search process for the solid-state memory unit.
First of all, Western Digital Corporation as the owner of SanDisk assets , which has a joint venture with Toshiba for the production of memory, would like to count on certain privileges in the auction. Secondly, it believes that the sale of Toshiba's core business affects the interests of WDC, and violates the terms of the agreement with SanDisk. Finally, WDC simply considers some of the voiced rates to be inflated and unreasonable - it's enough to remember that the same Foxconn is credited with the desire to buy Toshiba's business for $ 27 billion.
Of course, Western Digital's concerns can be understood. The company got into debt for the sake of buying SanDisk, having laid out for the assets the last $ 15.8 billion. Now Toshiba is asked for an equal amount of assets, judging by previous leaks. At the end of last year, WDC had free and borrowed funds in the amount of no more than $ 7 billion, according to Bloomberg. Clearly, in such conditions, the WDC itself does not pull the purchase of Toshiba's business.
It is interesting that WDC simultaneously objects to the adoption by Toshiba of a proposal from Broadcom, which also may become the owner of the core business of the Japanese company. By the way, some sources consider it one of the favorites of the auction, since Korean and Chinese investors are not welcomed by the Japanese authorities as participants in the deal. Representatives of Toshiba have already stated that they do not agree with the claims of WDC, and argue that the sale of assets does not violate existing agreements between the two companies.