TOKYO (Reuters) -A consortium of more than 10 Japanese companies, led by the Japan Industrial Partners investment fund, has submitted a bid to buy Toshiba Corp for about 2.2 trillion yen ($15.01 billion), the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday.
The consortium, including Chubu Electric Power Co Inc and Orix Corp, appears not to have obtained commitment letters from banks but is aiming to complete the lending deal by end-November if Toshiba accepts the bid to go private, Nikkei said.
Japanese companies in the consortium will spend about 1 trillion yen, while multiple overseas funds decided not to join the bid due to expectations for low returns, the newspaper added.
When asked for a comment on the report, a Toshiba representative said the company “cannot answer information about candidates, including co-investors, as it may undermine fair process”.
($1 = 146.5400 yen)
(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by David Goodman and Bernadette Baum)
