TOKYO/HONG KONG, June 22 (Reuters): Bidders for Toshiba Corp are considering offering up to 7,000 yen ($51.41) per share to take the troubled Japanese conglomerate private, three people familiar with the situation told Reuters, valuing the deal at about $22 billion.
Toshiba, which is exploring strategic options, said this month it had received eight initial buyout proposals and two proposals for capital alliances that would see it remain listed.
The bidders are now discussing an offer price range of up to 7,000 yen a share with Toshiba's shareholders, the people said, representing up to a 27 per cent premium to Toshiba's share price as of Wednesday's close.
A separate source said the range of offers had been wide spread and various conditions have been attached.
The offer price, if finalised, would value the chips to nuclear reactors conglomerate at 3 trillion yen ($22.02 billion) at top end of the range.
Toshiba said in a statement to Reuters that it would not disclose details of the proposals.
KKR & Co Inc, Baring Private Equity Asia, Blackstone Inc, Bain Capital, Brookfield Asset Management, MBK Partners, Apollo Global Management and CVC Capital Partners have submitted initial bids, according to the people.
Some of them may form consortia for a bid, they added.
Bain, Brookfield, Baring, CVC, and MBK declined to comment. The other funds did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Domestic funds, including Japan Investment Corp, and a number of strategic players are looking to see how they can participate in the deal, the people said, declining to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
JIC declined to comment.
If successful, the Toshiba deal would be largest buyout transaction in Japan since a consortium led by Bain took private the conglomerate's memory chip unit, Kioxia, for $18 billion in 2018.
The discussions are taking place at a time when a weak yen continues to haunt the Japanese economy, threatening to disrupt Japanese firms' business plans and turn them into attractive acquisition targets for foreign buyers.
