Toshiba sells nuclear unit Westinghouse for $4.6bn
New York/Tokyo — Little more than a year after flagging multibillion-dollar write-downs that threatened its very survival, Toshiba has gained some closure with the sale of its former nuclear unit, Westinghouse Electric. Westinghouse was put into bankruptcy by Toshiba in March after project delays crippled earnings from the nuclear plant business. On Thursday, Brookfield Business Partners agreed to buy what remains of its US business out of bankruptcy, as well as its nonbankrupt European business, for $4.6bn. Toshiba bought Westinghouse for $5.4bn in 2006 as a way to diversify away from consumer electronics, but struggled to build new reactors and was wrong-footed by changes in the nuclear industry. That includes the effect of Japan’s 2011 Fukushima meltdown and a flood of cheap natural gas in the US. While it’s unclear what benefit the Tokyo-based company will see from a sale, it will help Toshiba move on in the eyes of investors. "In terms of its image, this is a positive. Westingh...
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