Writedown fears wipe $5
billion off Toshiba's value as it weighs options
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[December 28, 2016]
By Makiko Yamazaki
TOKYO
(Reuters) - A looming writedown at Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp
<6502.T> has wiped almost $5 billion off its value in two days and
prompted a credit rating downgrade on Wednesday, as the company grapples
to plug a potential multi-billion dollar hole.
Toshiba said late on Tuesday that cost overruns at a U.S. nuclear
business it bought from Chicago Bridge & Iron last year, CB&I Stone &
Webster, meant it could face 'several billion dollars' in charges,
acknowledging a bruising overpayment.
It did not comment on whether that would wipe out its asset value and
tip the company into negative net worth. Executives said it could take
until February to pinpoint the exact impact.
Toshiba shares, however, took an immediate hit on Wednesday, falling 20
percent to hit the Tokyo exchange's daily downward limit. That follows a
12 percent drop on Monday after initial warnings from the group.
Investors fretted that a blow to the group's finances could even weaken
its competitiveness in its core semiconductor business - specifically
investment in 3D NAND, a new advanced type of flash memory - or result
in firesales and dilutive share issues.
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For the first time in seven years, the value of the group fell below
that of tech rival Sharp <6753.T>.
Rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Toshiba, already in junk
territory, to B- from B, with a "negative" outlook. S&P said it expected
shareholder equity to "drastically shrink" as a result of the writedown,
eroding the group's resilience, while expected higher working capital
would burn more cash.
Toshiba's credit default swaps, which measure the cost of insuring
Toshiba's debt, jumped by 40 basis points (bps) to 111/136 bps, meaning
it would cost $111,000 - $136,000 per year for five years to insure $10
million in bonds.
Thomson Reuters data shows the yield on bonds due 2020 rose 17 bps
to 1.76 percent.
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Pedestrians walk past a logo of Toshiba Corp outside an electronics
retailer in Tokyo, Japan September 14, 2015. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File
Photo
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"Toshiba's ability to enhance its shareholders' equity is likely to continue to
be difficult for the foreseeable future," S&P said, adding it also saw
"persistently tough business conditions".
RAISING CASH
Credit analysts at SMBC Nikko Securities said in a report that they saw three
options as Toshiba deals with the imminent task of enhancing its capital base:
making more profits faster, selling assets and increasing capital.
Only
the middle option is likely in the short term, however.
Toshiba is still burning cash despite a positive bottom line in the first half
of the financial year and cannot raise more capital on the stock market while it
remains on Tokyo's watch list, where it has been since a 2015 accounting
scandal.
"I expect Toshiba to start with asset sales, and then to issue preferred shares
if asset sales are not enough. They will start with measures other than (the
chip business) listing," one source close to the company said.
Toshiba has said it will consider all options to bolster its finances, even "the
positioning" of its nuclear business which is centred around Westinghouse, a
U.S. firm bought in 2006.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki, Kentaro Hamada, Ayai Tomisawa and Yoshiyuki Osada
in TOKYO and Umesh Desai in HONG KONG; Editing by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Sam
Holmes)
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