Toshiba's shares fell 3% following the report.

Major Japanese banks, including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, have issued a letter of commitment to provide loans to JIP totalling around 1.2 trillion yen, the Nikkei reported.

Toshiba said it would not make a comment immediately. JIP declined to comment.

Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that Japanese banks, including Sumitomo Mitsui, had agreed to issue letters this week committing to a 1.4 trillion yen loan to back the JIP-led consortium's bid.

The buyout would also include 1 trillion yen in equity to be provided by a number of Japanese companies including financial services group Orix Corp, chipmaker Rohm Co Ltd and Japan Post Bank, sources have said.

Toshiba named the JIP-led group as its preferred bidder in October. The private equity firm was then asked by Toshiba to provide commitment letters from banks by Nov. 7, something it was unable to secure by that date.

($1 = 131.3700 yen)

(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama, Makiko Yamazaki and Ritsuko Shimizu; Editing by Chris Reese and Neil Fullick)