Tokyo — Toshiba will not use the option of cancelling the $18bn sale of its memory chip unit unless there is any "major material change" in circumstances, the Japanese conglomerate’s new CEO said on Tuesday. Toshiba was unable to complete the sale to a consortium led by US private equity firm Bain Capital by the agreed deadline of March 31 as it was still awaiting approval from China’s anti-monopoly regulator. Toshiba now has the option under the agreement to cancel the sale without forfeit. Cancelling would give Toshiba the freedom to pursue alternative courses of action, such as renegotiating the sale or conducting an initial public offering, a move activist shareholders have urged the company to consider. "We will maintain our stance and wait [for Chinese regulatory approval] unless drastic changes occur," CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani said. Toshiba aimed to complete the sale as soon as possible, he said. Asked what was meant by drastic change, Kurumatani cited the failure to receive Ch...
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