Toshiba buys $1 billion share in SanDisk

Gets 30% of manufacturing capacity

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."