Hurdles dominate tie-up

Western Digital and its bankers have been aggressive in pitching a deal, offering a high price and describing it as a merger, the people said. Bain Capital, which controls Kioxia along with Toshiba, is open to a combination, one person said.

TOKYO: Western Digital Corp is pitching a fresh proposal to acquire Kioxia Holdings Corp, four years after it lost out on a bid to take over the former Toshiba Corp chip unit. But the United States company’s offer faces familiar hurdles.

Among the challenges, Kioxia’s senior management would prefer going public, officials in the Japanese government are concerned about losing control of a chipmaker and Chinese regulators are likely to block a US takeover, according to people familiar with the matter.