Toshiba could be going private in largest Asia buyout
07 April 2021
Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners has offered to buy listed Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp. for around $20 billion.
Why it matters: This could be the largest leveraged buyout of an Asian company, topping Bain Capital's 2018 deal for a majority stake in Toshiba's flash memory unit (now known as Kioxia).
Market reax: Toshiba shares jumped more than 18% on the news, giving it a market cap of nearly $19 billion.
Timing is everything: Toshiba shareholders last month approved an independent investigation into allegations that it improperly pressured shareholders into voting with company management, and the CVC deal arguably could help take the pressure off CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani.
Bottom line: "Any approval by Toshiba's board will face regulatory review, because Toshiba, which makes products ranging from escalators to sewerage plants, is one of only a handful of companies able to build nuclear reactors and manufactures other sensitive equipment, including lithium-ion batteries for Japan's military submarines." — Makiko Yamazaki, Reuters
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.