Tokyo - Toshiba's troubled
US nuclear unit Westinghouse intends to file for Chapter 11
protection from creditors, Japan's government said on Wednesday,
as the conglomerate seeks to limit losses that have plunged it
into crisis.
Yoshihide Suga, the government's chief spokesman, told a
regular news briefing he was aware that Pittsburgh-based
Westinghouse plans a bankruptcy filing. Sources with knowledge
of the situation have said that the filing could come as early
as Tuesday.
Japan's Nikkei business daily reported Toshiba had approved
the filing at a board meeting earlier in the day. Toshiba said
it could not comment on issues discussed at its board meetings.
A bankruptcy filing would allow Westinghouse, whose nuclear
plant projects have been dogged by delays and cost overruns, to
renegotiate or break its construction contracts, although the
utilities that own the projects would likely seek damages.
It would imperil the completion of Westinghouse's nuclear
power plants under construction in the southern United States,
where ratepayers have already been covering some of the costs in
their monthly electricity bills.
Read also: Toshiba to book $6.3bn writedown
The future of Westinghouse has already been raised in
bilateral talks between Japan and the United States with Japan
fearing that Westinghouse's collapse will incite criticism from
US President Donald Trump over the impact it could have on
local jobs and finances.
The US government has granted loan guarantees totaling
$8.3 billion to the utilities commissioning the Georgia project.
Westinghouse also has nuclear projects in varying degrees of
development in India, the United Kingdom and China.
The company, founded by American engineer and inventor
George Westinghouse in 1886, employs 12 000 people worldwide,
according to its website.