Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) (Toshiba) understands that Western Digital Corporation (Western Digital) released a statement on September 13, 2017 regarding Toshiba’s announcement of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Bain Capital Private Equity LP (Bain) affirming the parties’ intent to reach an agreement regarding the sale of Toshiba Memory Corporation (TMC) to a Bain-led consortium.

Toshiba regrets that Western Digital persistently overstates its limited consent rights in public statements. As Toshiba has previously stated, the confidential agreements between SanDisk and Toshiba provide no reasonable basis for Western Digital’s assertions that it is entitled to prevent a sale of TMC. Toshiba is also disappointed by Western Digital’s misleading statements regarding the outcome of ongoing litigation between the two companies concerning SanDisk’s purported consent rights: the parties have merely agreed, before a single court, to provide notice when an agreement for the sale of TMC is signed—and prior to a related closing—for a limited period of time, until arbitration between the companies is underway.

Toshiba expects and is fully committed to completing a sale of TMC by March 2018, and looks forward to a favorable resolution of SanDisk and Western Digital’s exaggerated claims in arbitration.