Toshiba grabs a billion dollar slice of Sandisk

IN A BID TO fend off its bitter rival, Samsung, Japanese memory maker Toshiba says it will buy $1 billion of equipment from joint venture partner, Sandisk, currently the unwilling object of the South Korean firm’s takeover desire.

With prices of NAND flash dropping through the floor, Sandisk shares have also taken quite a tumble, dropping 50 per cent in the last year and leaving the firm vulnerable to unwanted advances.

Sandisk has bravely fought off two previous offers by the world's biggest memory chip maker, with Samsung offering to pay $26 a share. Sandisk shares are currently valued at only $15.51 and the firm is also expected to announce a big dip in Q3 earnings today, something which may well drive its stock prices down further.

Obviously in no mood to let Samsung get its paws on key patents, Toshiba is hoping that flashing its cash may be enough to stave off a Samsung takeover of Sandisk a while longer.

Toshiba says it will buy up about 30 per cent of Sandisk’s equipment at its joint venture in Japan, a deal which apparently includes adjustments in lease payments and would give Tosh 65 per cent of production capacity at the companies' joint factories. Ownership, however, will remain 50/50.

Sandisk will purportedly still be able to buy a portion of chips made by the equipment it sells to Toshiba and the firm reckons it will continue to invest its half share in future.

This may not have been an easy decision for Toshiba, which is also feeling the pinch from the slump in global memory prices. Tosh is expected to announce a Q3 operating loss of 30 billion yen ($295 million), its first third quarter operating loss in five years. µ