CVC Capital s bid for Toshiba exposes pervasive conflicts of interest The reported $20 billion bid to take Toshiba private from U.K.-based private equity fund CVC Capital Partners has the investment community abuzz: Will CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani actually be allowed to pull it off and escape the nets that are encircling him?
There is no way the timing of CVC s offer, on the heels of a shareholder vote to appoint independent investigators to review alleged vote tampering at last year s annual general meeting, is a coincidence.
A going private transaction if it can be accomplished quickly enough will effectively shut down the investigation and leave the world forever guessing at whether Kurumatani and other members of Toshiba senior management engaged in misconduct. It will also relieve Kurumatani from having to face reelection at the coming AGM in June, after having eked out a slim 57% margin at last year s contested AGM.