Toshiba to increase capital by 500 bil. yen to improve fiscal health+

TOKYO, April 18 Kyodo - Toshiba Corp. plans to increase its capital by about 500 billion yen to try to turn around its deteriorating financial condition by rebuilding its semiconductor and other operations that require massive investment, industry sources said Saturday.

The electronics giant will work out the specific fundraising methods, but it is
believed to be considering procuring capital of some 300 billion yen through a
public stock offering and another 200 billion yen by asking banks and other
financial institutions to buy subordinated bonds by September, the sources
said.
Toshiba has said it anticipates its largest-ever group net loss of 350 billion
yen for fiscal 2008 ended March 31.
The Tokyo-based firm's shareholders' equity as of the end of March was 450
billion yen, falling to less than half the figure from a year earlier, while
its capital-to-asset ratio is also expected to drop sharply from 17.2 percent
to 8.2 percent.
If it implements the 500 billion yen capital increase plan, the company would
be able to return its financial situation to a level close to that at the end
of March 2008.
In Friday's press conference, Toshiba's Corporate Executive Vice President
Fumio Muraoka did not rule out the possibility of applying for the
state-sponsored rehabilitation program to restore its financial health.
But for the time being, the company apparently seeks to go it alone, with the
hope of reinforcing the competitiveness of its operations through prompt
implementation of measures to strengthen its foundations.
Toshiba, the world's No. 2 maker of NAND flash memory used in cellphones and
digital music players, is one of many semiconductor makers struggling to ride
out a severe slump in the global chip industry caused by an erosion of prices
and falling demand due to the global economic crisis.
==Kyodo