Japan utility Tepco mulls partnership with private equity firm in Toshiba bid

A top utility company in Japan is mulling joining a partnership between state-backed investment fund Japan Investment Corp. and a local private equity firm in bid to take over Toshiba Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.

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The people said that the largest power utility in Japan, known as Tepco, is looking to secure Toshiba's nuclear business. Foreign funds approached JIC to join the bid, according to people familiar with the matter.

JIC and Japan Industrial Partners Inc. are partnering because they don't have enough funds on their own, they said. Foreign funds approached JIC for potential joint offers, but it's too early to know who the JIC-JIP group will partner with or whether they will proceed with their own bid, the people said.

JIP and JIC didn't want to say anything. Tepco spokesman said it wasn't among companies that submitted proposals to Toshiba, without elaborating on the potential JIC and JIP partnership. Midori Hara, a Toshiba spokeswoman, didn't say anything about the company's proposals and potential partners. Toshiba received eight offers to buy the conglomerate and two proposals for capital and business alliances last month.

Tepco shares fell by as much as 6% on Wednesday, due to a decline in the utilities sector. Toshiba shares dropped by as much as 1.5%.

The potential bidders for Toshiba are Bain Capital, CVC Capital Partners and JIC, according to Bloomberg News. Foreign investors have been watching developments at Toshiba to gauge shareholder influence and regulators acceptance of foreign private equity firms in Japan.

Any sale of Toshiba, which owns key nuclear technologies, would require approval from the Japanese government. Toshiba is a company of interest for national security under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act for nuclear expertise.

Toshiba is involved in the effort to clean up Tepco's ruined Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant and develop technology to remove debris and treat radioactive water. The nuclear power plant in 2011 suffered from a meltdown in 2011 due to the devastating earthquake and tsunamis on March 11.

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