Toshiba close to Fujitsu hard disk deal

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 15 Jan 2009 at 08:57

Toshiba has reached an agreement with Fujitsu to buy its hard-disk business for between $340 million to $450 million, according to reports.

The sale, which will turn Toshiba into the world's largest maker of small hard drives, will be announced by the end of the month, says Japanese newspaper the Nikkei without citing sources.

Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori says conditions have not changed since Wednesday, when he confirmed that the company is in talks with Fujitsu to buy its hard-disk drive business but that no agreement has been reached.

Fujitsu refused to comment on negotiations.

The deal will see Toshiba take over Fujitsu's hard-drive production and sales networks, including assembly plants in Thailand and the Philippines, while Fujitsu is in talks with Showa Denko to sell its hard-drive platter production segment.

Both Toshiba and Fujitsu focus on 2.5in drives, which are used mainly in laptops.

The combination of their HDD operations would give Toshiba a one-third share in the global market of such devices, putting it ahead of Hitachi and Western Digital.