Writedowns associated with Toshiba’s nuclear business have seen the stock plunge to a four-decade low.
The FT reports that the Japanese conglomerate is in talks with the Bank of Japan, with a view to being assisted with state-backed capital after stock plummeted to as much as 26 per cent.
A disastrous nuclear deal in the US is at the centre of the company’s woes. Toshiba had to make writedowns of “several billion dollars” related to US unit Westinghouse’s $229m acquisition last year of Chicago Bridge & Iron’s nuclear construction subsidiary, Stone & Webster.
Because of the impact of the problem, the company says it is considering further writedowns of between $1bn and $4.5bn. But analysts have since estimated that the total writedown, to be announced by mid-February, could be between $5bn and $8bn.
Toshiba convened an emergency meeting of its bank lenders in early January after several banks expressed concerns over extending loans to the company.