Toshiba NAND sale may not go through

We've already written lots of news posts about the sale of Toshiba's memory division. Last year, the Japanese conglomerate saw itself forced to enter a deal due to a financial crisis caused by other business units. However, at present Toshiba is no longer in need of the money as it raised $5.4 billion from a share issue late last year.

As such, pressure is growing to cancel the planned sale of the prized NAND flash memory unit. Reuters writes this option is becoming more viable as antitrust approval from China is unlikely to arrive before the agreed deadline of March 31. After this date, Toshiba can walk away from the deal without legal or financial repercussions:

Failure to meet the deadline gives Toshiba the option of walking away from the sale of the world’s No. 2 producer of NAND chips without penalty - a move that some investors have urged it to consider.

A spokesman for Toshiba said the firm had not yet given up on closing the deal by the end of the month and that even if the deadline passed, it would still aim to sell the chip unit as soon as possible.