21 October 2008 11:07 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott
SanDisk has announced it is to sell 30% of its manufacturing capacity to Toshiba in a $1 billion deal.Toshiba and SanDisk currently operate three joint ventures and will remain equal partners for the remaining 70% of manufacturing capacity.
They will also continue to jointly invest in the next generation of flash-memory products.
In September, Samsung made a hostile bid for SanDisk at $26 a share that was rejected as too low.
This deal with Toshiba has not removed the prospect of a Samsung buy as analysts believe Toshiba's move to buy a share means they would not offer a buy-out "rescue" plan.
Analyst Edwin Mok of Needham & Co said in a research note, "We believe this confirms our view the Toshiba will not be the 'white knight,' but a fab buyout will make SanDisk more attractive to Samsung".
"However, we believe Samsung will unlikely to raise the $26/share offer due to the deteriorating NAND market and SanDisk's share loss." Biz, Toshiba, Samsung, SanDisk, Acquisitions
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