<\/p>\n
Tokyo, Feb 7 (AFP\/APP): Japan’s Toshiba on Monday announced plans to split into two companies, revising a controversial proposal to divide into three following a tumultuous period for the storied industrial conglomerate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The group said it plans to spin off its device segment, including its semiconductor business, in a bid to speed up decision-making and boost stock performance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Shareholders, who have clashed with management on the best way forward for the troubled company, must still approve the proposal in a vote expected in March. The original spin-off plan faced stiff opposition from some key investors.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The firm also said it will unload its stake in air-conditioning business Toshiba Carrier and seek to sell its elevator and lighting units.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“We believe a spin-off is optimal,” president and CEO Satoshi Tsunakawa told investors, promising it would “enable more agile and flexible operations.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He said the sprawling business “struggled with the conglomerate discount and slowness in decision-making” in the past, and streamlining operations would allow investors to choose the portion of the business that interested them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Toshiba initially unveiled a plan to split into three last November, in what analysts called a test case for other Japanese giants.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But it said Monday that “since this is the first large-scale spin-off transaction in Japan… it turned out there were obstacles which were not initially expected”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Among those were higher-than-expected costs, and an extensive process to list the two new entities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A two-way split instead “can significantly reduce separation costs, secure financial soundness for each company, and significantly reduce spin-off uncertainty”, the company said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The spin-off is expected to cost 20 billion yen ($173 million) over two years, with running costs also increasing by 13 billion yen a year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But Tsunakawa said that would be offset by plans to reduce operating costs by 30 billion yen annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tokyo, Feb 7 (AFP\/APP): Japan’s Toshiba on Monday announced plans to split into two companies, revising a controversial proposal to divide into three following a tumultuous period for the storied industrial conglomerate. The group said it plans to spin off its device segment, […]<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":36815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[16704],"class_list":["post-36814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-business-news","tag-toshiba-unveils-new-plan-to-split-into-two-companies"],"yoast_head":"\n