Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation Toshiba will accept a takeover bid by a group of firms including Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), after resolution was reportedly passed at a board meeting on March 23, Nikkei Asia said.

The Japanese group panel shall acquire Toshiba for around 2 trillion yen ($15.3 billion) as JIP is likely to conduct a takeover bid and take the company private. As per the Nikkei Asia report, the decision was after discussions by a special committee comprising outside directors and 12-member board of directors, which includes internal Toshiba directors, recommended the JIP proposal to shareholders. An acquisition by JIP may enhance Toshiba’s corporate value and shareholder returns, it said.

The move is aimed at boosting value by collaborating with investing companies. Toshiba, which has multiple activist shareholders, will then be held by a single company helping to ease decision-making.

Following the takeover, the restructuring process at Toshiba, which began after the company received its first takeover bid in the spring of 2021, shall conclude.

JIP will now begin applying, which also involves compliance with global competition laws. Once it gets the nod, JIP will purchase shares from existing shareholders via the takeover bid and take Toshiba private, the report said.

Nikkei Asia said investments from nearly 20 Japanese companies, including Orix, Rohm and Chubu Electric Power, as well as loans from Japanese banks, will finance the acquisition.

The report claims that in April 2022, Toshiba had begun publicly soliciting restructuring proposals, including delisting. JIP, which had obtained preferential negotiating rights through the bidding process, submitted a takeover offer in November. After receiving loan commitments from financial institutions, it submitted a final proposal in February, it said.

In April 2021, Europe-based CVC Capital Partners made an initial takeover bid for Toshiba, but negotiations were later de facto suspended. In November of the same year, Toshiba announced a plan to split the entire group into three companies as a measure to increase its value. The plan was further revised in February 2022 to split the firm in two. However, a majority of shareholders rejected the idea and going private then remained as the main option to restructure.

In 2015, Toshiba fell into a financial crisis when accounting irregularities surfaced and its US nuclear power plant subsidiary suffered huge losses. To avoid insolvency for two consecutive years, the company in 2017 increased its capital by approximately 600 billion yen. Multiple activist investors became Toshiba shareholders, and the company’s management strategy was heavily influenced by their preferences, Nikkei Asia report noted.