2017.08.2903:05:00UTC+00Western Digital Consortium Ironing Out Toshiba Chip Unit Deal: Source

A group led by Western Digital Corp. is nearing the end of a deal to acquire Toshiba Corp.'s highly-priced $17.4 billion chip business, with the U.S. company's CEO in Tokyo to finalize the controversial and long discussions, according to sources.

The consortium and the Japanese conglomerate are looking to publicize the deal on Thursday when the board of Toshiba is slated to convene, another group of people privy to the matter said.

A finalized sale agreement would conclude months of uncertainty for Toshiba, which is rushing to sell its flash memory business to fill the hole in its books left by losses at its now-bankrupt U.S. nuclear business, Westinghouse.

The deal would also be a win for Western Digital, after its ties with Toshiba were strained to the point where other interested parties were preferred and the U.S. company, which had a JV for its chip business, initiated legal action that risked junking any deal that was closed.

Western Digital's financial participation in the deal has a ceiling of 150 billion yen, which will be paid via convertible bonds. Other members, including Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, the Development Bank of Japan and KKR & Co. will offer 1.9 trillion yen, each inputting 300 billion yen.