[3xBuBu]

General Electric (GE) Wins HA Gas Turbine Contract in Malaysia

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/general-electric-ge-wins-gas-123312812.html

General Electric Company’s GE unit GE Power recently clinched an order for its state-of-the-art HA — one of the most efficient fleet of gas turbines in the world. Notably, the company entered into a deal with engineering, procurement, and construction consortium of Posco Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. to deliver power generation equipment at Pulau Indah power plant, located in Selangor, Malaysia.

For the 1,200 MW power plant, General Electric will be responsible for offering two blocks of 600 megawatts, each blocks consisting of an advanced 9HA.01 gas turbine, a W88 generator, an STF-D650 steam turbine and a Once Through Heat Recovery Steam Generator. In addition to the power generation equipment, the deal involves a 21-year services agreement.

General Electric’s advanced HA gas turbine technology will bring greater flexibility and efficiency to the plant’s operations for producing efficient and low-cost energy in Selangor. Apart from helping the power plant in catering to the growing requirements of reliable electricity, the HA technology will help it in lowering the consumption of natural gas and emissions. Notably, the plant’s commercial operations are expected to commence in 2024.

Separately, General Electric’s Healthcare unit introduced StarGuide, an advanced SPECT/CT system. The system is developed to facilitate clinicians to improve patient outcomes in several medical specialties, including bone procedures and others.

[3xBuBu]

GE Sells Lightbulb Business for About $250 Million

General Electric Co. is getting out of the business of making lightbulbs, selling a unit that defined the company for nearly a century and was its last direct link to consumers.

GE said it would sell its lighting business to Savant Systems Inc., a seller of home automation technology. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed but the transaction valued the unit at around $250 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.

GE had been looking to sell the business for several years. The conglomerate once made refrigerators, microwaves and bulbs but has exited those consumer businesses as part of a yearslong restructuring. It has shifted its focus to making heavy equipment, like power turbines, aircraft engines and hospital machines.

GE Lighting will remain based in Cleveland, and its more than 700 employees will transfer to Savant, which will also get a long-term license for the GE brand. GE no longer discloses revenue for the lighting business, which it slimmed down over the years.

The unit traces its roots back to GE's founding 130 years ago when Thomas Edison invented the first viable incandescent lamp. In 1935, the first Major League Baseball night game was played under GE lights. A GE engineer invented the LED light in 1962.

For decades, GE's home appliances and lightbulbs formed a link between American consumers and one of the country's oldest and largest industrial companies. The company's popular TV ad campaigns promised to "Bring good things to life," but the growth and profitability of the consumer businesses waned.

GE got out of making television sets and small appliances like toasters under former Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch. His successor Jeff Immelt continued the shift, exiting the NBCUniversal media business and in 2016 selling the large appliances business to Haier Group. GE gave the Chinese buyer the right to continue to use its brand on stoves, fridges and other appliances for several decades as part of the deal. Thousands of workers and a sprawling factory complex in Louisville, Ky., were transferred in that deal.

More recently, the company has been selling off industrial units -- such as its locomotive, oil equipment and biopharma units. It has used the proceeds to pare down its debts after a plunge in profits at its power and financial services divisions prompted the company to slash its cash dividend to a token penny a share and overhaul its board and executive ranks. It has also shrunk GE's scope -- leaving the company with about 205,000 employees at the start of 2020.

CEO Larry Culp, who took over in 2018, had depended on GE's thriving aviation division in order to turn around the company, but the coronavirus pandemic has crippled the airline industry. GE has cut thousands of jobs in its aviation business and warned a restructuring of its large power unit could take years.

GE had previously shed its Current business, which sold commercial lighting systems, along with parts of its overseas lighting operations. GE's traditional bulb rivals have also scaled back in the last decade, and many of the buyers have been Chinese firms.

GE spent years trying to sell the lighting business, a largely commoditized and low-margin division, before striking the deal to sell its Current business in 2018. The company had spoken to Chinese suitors about the lighting business, but pivoted as the Trump administration increased scrutiny of the security risks of selling to Chinese companies, the person familiar with the matter said.

The transaction is expected to close quickly, possibly within a month, due to it being structured in a way that will limit antitrust clearance required, this person said.

Savant, founded in 2005, is based in Hyannis, Mass. The company specializes in so-called smart home systems that control features such as lighting, entertainment, temperature and security settings all in one place.

https://ih.advfn.com/stock-market/NYSE/general-electric-GE/stock-news/82543907/ge-sells-lightbulb-business-for-about-250-million

[3xBuBu]

Nuclear Power in China

https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/china-nuclear-power.aspx



China nuclear power plant construction milestone

[3xBuBu]

190815_GE Plunges Most in 11 Years as Madoff Accuser Slams Accounting
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/advchart/frames/frames.asp?show=&insttype=&symb=TVIX&x=28&y=13&time=3&startdate=1%2F4%2F1999&enddate=2%2F6%2F2012&freq=7&compidx=aaaaa%3A0&comptemptext=&comp=none&ma=3&maval=20&uf=4&lf=4&lf2=256&lf3=1024&type=4&style=330&size=2&timeFrameToggle=false&compareToToggle=false&indicatorsToggle=false&chartStyleToggle=false&state=11

General Electric Co. tumbled the most since 2008 after a prominent financial examiner working with a short seller accused the company of “accounting fraud.” GE Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp called the claims “market manipulation -- pure and simple.”

Harry Markopolos, who had raised concerns over investment manager Bernie Madoff before his fraud was exposed, said GE will need to increase its insurance reserves immediately by $18.5 billion in cash -- plus an additional noncash charge of $10.5 billion when new accounting rules take effect. GE is also hiding a loss of more than $9 billion on its holdings in Baker Hughes, an oilfield services company, Markopolos said.
Madoff Whistleblower Harry Markopolos

Harry Markopolos

“These impending losses will destroy GE’s balance sheet, debt ratios and likely also violate debt covenants,” Markopolos said in a report Thursday. “GE’s cash situation is far worse than disclosed in their 2018” annual report to regulators.

GE dismissed the claims as “meritless” without providing a point-by-point rebuttal. That wasn’t enough to stem the share plunge at a company long criticized for its murky finances. Culp, who took the helm in October, has vowed to improve transparency while also seeking to fix the power-equipment unit and halt a slide that erased more than $200 billion from GE’s market value in the two-year period ending Dec. 31.

“The short report accurately depicts a GE culture that historically hid losses and deceived investors,” Scott Davis, an analyst at Melius Research, said in a note to clients. “GE has no credibility at all in responding to the report today as inaccurate. The truth is GE is using a set of assumptions, the short report uses another. We don’t know where the truth lies.”

GE Left Itself Open to Markopolos Critique: Brooke Sutherland

The shares plummeted 11% to $8.01 at the close in New York, the biggest drop since April 2008. The slide had triggered a trading restriction on short-sellers that takes effect when a decline exceeds 10%. GE had climbed 24% this year through Wednesday, following a 57% plunge in 2018.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-15/ge-drops-as-madoff-whistle-blower-levels-accounting-accusations?srnd=premium




http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/advchart/frames/frames.asp?show=&insttype=&symb=GE&x=49&y=12&time=3&startdate=1%2F4%2F1999&enddate=2%2F6%2F2012&freq=7&compidx=aaaaa%3A0&comptemptext=&comp=none&ma=3&maval=20&uf=4&lf=4&lf2=256&lf3=1024&type=4&style=330&size=2&timeFrameToggle=false&compareToToggle=false&indicatorsToggle=false&chartStyleToggle=false&state=11

[3xBuBu]

GE Brings New Leadership to Revamp Ailing Power Business

Leadership shuffle

In mid-November 2018, General Electric’s (GE) newly appointed CEO Larry Culp announced a leadership shuffle to help turn around the company’s ailing Power business. The leadership shuffle includes bringing back former GE executive John Rice from retirement to be the chair of the newly structured gas power business. Prior to his re-recruitment, Rice had served the company for 39 years before retiring in December 2017 as vice chair. During this period, he led several divisions of GE including energy and transportation.

Restructuring plans

For the last few years, General Electric has been evaluating sales and spin-off options to optimize its business. In June, the company announced a massive restructuring plan. Under the restructuring plan, General Electric decided to divest and split off certain assets to focus on only three sectors—aviation, renewable energy, and power.

According to the restructuring plan, General Electric intends to exit the oil and gas business, divest its lighting division, and spin off its Healthcare segment into a standalone company. On November 13, General Electric announced that it entered a series of agreements with Baker Hughes (BHGE). The agreements include a stake sale in Baker Hughes that would raise almost $4 billion for General Electric.

On November 16, General Electric announced that its lending arm, GE Capital, had sold $1.5 billion worth of its healthcare equipment finance portfolio to TIAA Bank. The company announced that it would sell up to 49.9% of its Healthcare business and then spin-off the unit as a standalone company.

For the Transportation segment, General Electric has entered into an agreement with Wabtec. According to the agreement, General Electric will receive a $2.9 billion up-front cash payment. General Electric’s shareholders will own 50.1% in the combined company.

General Electric intends to completely divest its lighting division, which generated ~$1 billion in revenues in 2017. The segment’s revenues fell 18% YoY to $385 million in the third quarter. As part of General Electric’s strategy, the company sold its energy efficiency business unit, Current, to private equity firm American Industrial Partners.

https://marketrealist.com/2018/12/ges-lighting-and-transportation-businesses-struggle

[3xBuBu]

South Korea's KEPCO loses preferred bidder status for UK nuclear project

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-nuclear/south-koreas-kepco-loses-preferred-bidder-status-for-uk-nuclear-project-idUSKBN1KL1YB

South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) (015760.KS) no longer has preferred bidder status to buy Toshiba’s (6502.T) NuGen nuclear project in Britain, Toshiba said on Tuesday.

“Toshiba continues to consider additional options including the sale of its shares in NuGen to KEPCO, and we are carefully monitoring the situation, in consultation with stakeholders including the UK government,” a spokesperson for Toshiba said in an email to Reuters.

The project in Moorside, north-west England, was expected to provide around 7 percent of Britain’s electricity when built, but has faced setbacks after Toshiba’s nuclear arm Westinghouse went bankrupt last year.

Following the Westinghouse bankruptcy, NuGen joint venture partner Engie (ENGIE.PA) pulled out of the project, leaving the Japanese firm searching for new investors.

KEPCO was chosen as preferred bidder last year but delays in concluding the deal have led to a review of operations at NuGen and of the roles of its 60 direct employees plus around 40 contractors.

Britain needs to invest in new capacity to replace aging coal and nuclear reactors that are due to close in the 2020s, but large new plants have struggled to get off the ground due to high costs and weak electricity prices.

[3xBuBu]

Cracks in nuclear reactor will hit EDF Energy with £120m bill

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/06/cracks-nuclear-reactor-threaten-uk-energy-policy-hunsterston

Problems at Hunterston B in Scotland trigger doubts over six other 1970s and 80s plants

The six month closure of one of Britain’s oldest nuclear reactors will burn a £120m hole in the revenues of owner EDF Energy and has raised questions over the reliability of the country’s ageing nuclear fleet.

EDF said this week that it was taking reactor 3 of Hunterston B in Scotland offline for half a year, after inspections found more cracks than expected in the graphite bricks at the reactor’s core.

The plant is one of seven Advanced Gas-Cooling Reactors (AGRS) switched on during the 1970s and 80s, several of which have seen their lifetimes extended into the 2020s.

EDF maintains that the prospect of more old reactors having a sustained outage is highly unlikely, but experts said it would pose a significant challenge to power supplies if they did.

Peter Atherton, an analyst at the consultancy Cornwall Insight, said: “Let’s say worst-case scenario they found a big graphite core problem and Hunterston never comes back on.

“That would be a big hole in the plan [for electricity supplies]. The gas-fired power stations, we’ve probably got enough of them, but it would be pretty tight. It would also be a knock-back to carbon targets. You could build more windfarms, but that would take time.”

The Hunterston outage is the longest yet over the graphite issue, which EDF calls a “unique challenge”, and company presentations concede the cracking “will probably limit the lifetime for the current generation of AGRs”.

The graphite core is used to moderate the neutrons in a nuclear reaction, but over time the irradiation degrades the graphite, ultimately leading to cracks. These cause a series of knock-on effects that can impair control of the nuclear reaction.

The UK nuclear regulator points out that the total number of cracks is well below specified safety limits. It has also welcomed more frequent inspections such as those that led EDF to take the Hunterston reactor offline.

Experts estimate the 40% cut in the power station’s output – it normally supplies enough electricity for 1.8m homes – will cost the French state-owned firm £100m-120m in lost revenue.

That is small compared with the impact of temporary safety closures at EDF’s French plants, which led profits to fall 16% last year, but it is still a blow the company could do without as it ramps up construction of the £20bn Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset.

EDF will not be the only energy company affected by the outage. Deepa Venkateswaran, an analyst at Bernstein bank, said she thought it would also hurt the price British Gas’s parent company, Centrica, would fetch for its stake in the plants. Centrica recently said it hoped to sell its 20% share by 2020.

Brian Cowell, EDF’s generation managing director, said he was very confident the Hunterston reactor would come back online in mid-November.

So far, significant cracks have only been found at reactors three and four at Hunterston B.

Hinkley Point B, which came online in the same year as Hunterston, is offline to carry out checks for cracks, which will be completed in three to four weeks.

“The one that will be worrying them is Hinkley [Point B],” said John Large, a nuclear consultant who has advised the UK government.

Hinkley Point has not only become an industry showcase for why new nuclear reactors should be built in the UK, but the old power station is providing electricity for the 3,500-strong workforce constructing the new plant.

Nuclear provides about a fifth of UK electricity, but experts said this week that it would slump to 10% by 2027, as the old plants are retired.

BMI Research said it did not expect Hinkley Point C to come online by 2025 as planned, given recent warnings of further delays to EDF’s Flamanville plant in France, which uses the same reactor design.

[3xBuBu]

China looking to buy stake in UK nuclear plants

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/08/china-interested-majority-stake-uk-nuclear-power-stations-reports

The Chinese government has emerged as a potential buyer of a multibillion-pound stake in Britain’s nuclear power plants.

The talks will reignite debate about China’s involvement in the UK nuclear power industry. Two years ago, the government paused approval for the £18bn Hinkley Point C project because of security concerns over China’s stake.

China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), a state-run corporation, is said to be interested in buying a major stake in eight power stations, including Sizewell in Suffolk and Dungeness in Kent.

The power stations are operated by EDF Energy, a subsidiary of the French company EDF, but earlier this year, the British Gas owner, Centrica, put its 20% stake up for sale. The Sunday Times suggested CGN hoped to acquire a 49% stake, which indicates EDF could be looking to offload some of its shareholding.

The proposed deal would be a headache for Theresa May, who is concerned about giving China greater access to critical infrastructure projects and has initiated a new national security test for foreign takeovers.

CGN is becoming an increasingly important player in Britain’s atomic plans, and is working with EDF Energy on plans to develop a new nuclear power station at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex.

The sale could attract interest from pension and insurance funds, but analysts say the pool of bidders is small because the reactors have a limited shelf live.

Paul Dorfman, a senior researcher at University College London’s Energy Institute, said Britain was an outlier in its openness to Chinese investment.

“It’s entirely credible [that China would be allowed to buy the stake] in the context of what the British government is doing,” he said. “There is no other OECD country that would allow China to own any of its critical infrastructure, let alone its nuclear infrastructure.”

Dorfman said EDF, with €33bn (£29bn) of debt, was eager to raise funds from asset sales. “EDF is in financial difficulties and has been for some time. It’s looking to sell off whatever it can sell off. It’s worried about debt, its credit rating … plus its waste and decommissioning liabilities,” he said.

The eight nuclear power stations, which used to be grouped under British Energy, generate 8.9 gigawatts of electricity and supply about 20% of Britain’s electricity needs. They were bought by EDF for £12.5bn in 2008. The following year, Centrica took a 20% stake, which it values at £1.7bn.

[3xBuBu]

General Electric and EDF will work together to build European Pressurised Water reactors at a planned 9,900-megawatt nuclear plant in Jaitapur, India.

India is building nuclear power stations to meet the growing energy demands of its increasingly urban population and to shift away from environmentally-damaging coal-fired electricity.

The six European Pressurised Water reactors will be for a 9,900 mw nuclear power project at Jaitapur, south of Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra, GE and EDF said in a joint statement released on Tuesday.

India plans to have nuclear power generation capacity of 22,480 mw by 2031 through projects including Jaitapur, where construction has not yet started, junior minister for atomic energy Jitendra Singh told lawmakers in April.

EDF will be responsible for engineering integration of the entire project, while GE Power will design the critical part of the plant and supply its main components, the companies said.

GE will also provide operational support services and a training programme to meet the needs of the state-run Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd, the plant’s owner and operator.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-immigration/u-s-top-court-upholds-trump-travel-ban-targeting-muslim-majority-nations-idUSKBN1JM1U9

[3xBuBu]

GE to Spin Off Health-Care Business in Latest Revamp

General Electric plans to spin off its health-care business and unload its ownership in oil-services company Baker Hughes, people familiar with the matter said, betting that the once-sprawling conglomerate can reverse a painful slump by further shrinking.

The final plan, expected to be presented to investors on Tuesday, focuses GE around its power, aviation and renewable-energy businesses, the people said. These units, which accounted for more than half of GE’s $122 billion in revenue last year, mostly sell turbines to power plants and engines to jet makers.

[3xBuBu]

GE Hitachi touts development of smaller, cheaper nuclear reactor

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3347387-ge-hitachi-touts-development-smaller-cheaper-nuclear-reactor



GE Hitachi (NYSE:GE) must innovate to remain viable as the economics of nuclear power plants often wrap the construction of new facilities in red tape, a top official said this week at the 2018 State Energy Conference of North Carolina.

Executive VP Jon Ball says GE Hitachi is developing a reactor called the BWRX-300 that is far smaller than traditional reactors - ~15.5K cm vs. some other reactors that can stand as large as 161K cm - and cost-competitive at ~$700M.

GE Hitachi has targeted production at $2,000/kw, a number where federal estimates show nuclear is extremely competitive with renewable technologies; the company says it thus far has reduced the costs of BWRX-300 production to $2,250/kw.

“Hitting this [2,000/kw] target is relevant, and if new nuclear is going to have a future going forward, these are the kind of price targets that we’re going to have to hit," Ball tells the Wilmington Star News.

[3xBuBu]

Brookfield Business Partners to buy Westinghouse for $4.6 billion

The Brookfield group of companies is among the world’s largest investors in stable, long-lived assets such as utilities, real estate, energy and infrastructure.
https://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCAKBN1ET1MQ-OCABS

A subsidiary of Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Inc BAMa.TO BAM.N plans to acquire Westinghouse Electric Co LLC, the bankrupt nuclear services company owned by Toshiba Corp 6502.T, for $4.6 billion.

Brookfield Business Partners LP BBU.N BBU_u.TO said in a statement on Thursday that it and institutional partners would use $1 billion of equity and $3 billion of long-term debt financing to buy the Pittsburgh-based business, its first investment in nuclear power.

The buyers are also assuming Westinghouse’s underfunded pension plan.

New York-listed shares of Brookfield Business Partners were up 3.4 percent in afternoon trading.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter but will require approval from regulators and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Westinghouse has said it is aiming to exit bankruptcy as soon as March, which would allow Toshiba to book tax benefits in the current fiscal year.

Schneider said he was surprised that Brookfield acquired Westinghouse, given that the company has no other nuclear businesses.

Westinghouse is one the world’s leading suppliers of nuclear fuel, and it provides some form of service to 80 percent of the world’s 450 commercial reactors, according to court records.

Those two business lines generated combined cash flow of $403 million on revenue of about $3.1 billion in Westinghouse’s 2015 financial year, according to court records.

However, the company suffered after it agreed to build two plants in the U.S. Southeast on fixed-price contracts. The project went billions of dollars over budget, and Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy in March to escape the contracts.

Construction of new nuclear power plants globally has dropped to the lowest level in a decade following renewed safety concerns after the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011.

One of Westinghouse’s unfinished U.S. projects, known as Vogtle in Georgia, will continue with Southern Co SO.N replacing the company as the project manager. A South Carolina project known as V.C. Summer was abandoned in July.

The lead utility behind the V.C. Summer project, Scana Corp SCG.N, agreed on Wednesday to a $7.9 billion takeover bid from Dominion Energy Inc D.N.

Westinghouse has joined a consortium bidding to provide nuclear power in Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest new markets in the world. Bringing Westinghouse out of bankruptcy could help close a proposed deal for six of the company’s new AP1000 reactors in India.

[3xBuBu]

Dominion Energy to buy Scana, assume failed nuclear project costs

Dominion Energy Inc (D.N) said on Wednesday it would buy Scana Corp (SCG.N) in an all-stock deal worth about $7.9 billion, offering the utility a way to appease customers and investors angered by the cost of a failed nuclear project.

Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion will pay Scana’s customers $1.3 billion, averaging about $1,000 for each customer, and has promised to cut bills by 5 percent to appease users who have been overcharged for years as Scana funded the nuclear project.

Shares of Dominion, which will also assume Scana’s debt of $6.7 billion, were down 4 percent in after-market trading.

Dominion’s $55.35 per share offer represents a premium of 42.4 percent to Scana’s Tuesday close. South Carolina-based Scana’s shares were trading well below the offer price at $47.89, suggesting some investors were skeptical of the deal.

Scana, which owns the South Carolina Electric & Gas Co (SCE&G), has been under pressure since it scrapped the V.C. Summer nuclear project in July after spending about $9 billion on it with state-owned utility Santee Cooper.

The company received a subpoena in October from the Securities and Exchange Commission related to an investigation of the nuclear project.

Scana was funding some of the project’s costs from SCE&G, a move that angered customers and led to the utility rolling back electricity rates for residential users.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-scana-m-a-dominion-inc/dominion-energy-to-buy-scana-assume-failed-nuclear-project-costs-idUSKBN1ES0XK

[3xBuBu]

S. Korea to invest in safety, decommissioning research

http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/english/news/industry/20114-nuclear-power-rd-direction-rd-investment-nuclear-power-sector-be-oriented-phase

According to the plan, a total of 203.6 billion won (US$183 million) will be invested for R&D in the nuclear industry next year and approximately one-third of the investment will be spent on nuclear power plant safety, security and decommissioning technology. For reference, 60 billion won (US$54 million) has been invested in these fields this year.

The government is going to increase the utility of its nuclear technology by combining it with sectors such as medical and biotech. In this context, the technology will be utilized for marine nuclear system development, neutron radiographic testing and so on while radiological technology is going to be applied to the environment industry, material development, etc. 64.3 billion won (US$57 million) will be invested to this end.

The government also focuses on the export of the technological elements including nuclear power plant fuels and software for nuclear power plant analysis, too. At the same time, the ministry will support the preparation of future energy sources like nuclear fusion and provides more support for the Hanaro research reactor. In this regard, technical support will be provided for the production of ITER procurement items such as vacuum vessels and thermal shields, and high-performance plasma operation technologies shall be developed by the use of the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR).

[3xBuBu]

Toshiba has completed the early payment of $3.225 billion, reflecting the remaining outstanding amount of its $3.68 billion parent company guarantee obligation to the owners of the Vogtle nuclear construction project in the USA. The company is negotiating the settlement of the full guaranteed amount due to the owners of the VC Summer project.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/C-Vogtle-owners-receive-full-payment-from-Toshiba-1412175.html

[3xBuBu]

Toshiba looks to sell Westinghouse
and Seeks $5.4 Billion in Stock Sale to Avoid Delisting

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-19/toshiba-approves-5-4-billion-cash-injection-to-avoid-delisting

Toshiba Corp. plans to raise 600 billion yen ($5.4 billion) by selling new shares and will explore divestment of its Westinghouse-related assets in a bid to avoid being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Toshiba’s board approved the transaction on Sunday and expects it to close in early December, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement. It will sell 2.28 billion new shares at 262.8 yen apiece, about 10 percent less than Friday’s closing price, it said in a separate statement in Japanese. Toshiba shares fell 5.8 percent in Tokyo trading.

If the transactions are successful, Toshiba expects the consolidated negative 750 billion yen on its balance sheet will be erased by the end of the fiscal year in March. About 60 funds, including Effissimo Capital Management Pte and David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, are planning to make investments, it said.

Toshiba is struggling to recover from multibillion-dollar losses in the Westinghouse nuclear operations in the U.S. The company has agreed to sell its memory-chip unit to raise funds, but feared the deal wouldn’t be completed by the end of March as it needs to clear competition laws in different countries. Toshiba needs to reverse its negative shareholders equity by the end of its fiscal year to avoid violating the TSE’s listing requirements.

“Eliminating excessive debt and bolstering capital can certainly be seen in a positive light,” said Masahiko Ishino, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Securities. “But dilution is still something to be reckoned with.”

Toshiba is selling its memory chip unit to a consortium led by Bain Capital. The sale has been complicated by legal action from Western Digital Corp., which has argued it should have veto rights because of its partnership with Toshiba. The U.S. company has filed for arbitration to resolve the dispute, a process that may drag out and complicate the closing.

Toshiba Share Sale Opens Door to Einhorn, Loeb, Other Activists

Private equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Apollo Global Management LLC have teamed up to bid on Toshiba’s Westinghouse unit and others are considering offers, people familiar with the situation said in September. The nuclear unit, which was contracted to build two power projects in the U.S. that were both billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule, filed for bankruptcy in March.

Selling its holding in the nuclear-power business Westinghouse, and any liability for claims, will let Toshiba “significantly reduce” resources required to rehabilitate that unit, funds that can be focused on new businesses, the company said in the statement Sunday.

How to Make Enemies and Lose Influence in the Chips Business

Toshiba aims to use the capital it gains from the share sale for a full payment of so-called "parent-company guarantees" related to its Westinghouse unit, according to the statement. If Toshiba settles obligations to Westinghouse creditors, it will then be able to request reimbursement from the U.S.-based reactor-maker. Toshiba will then sell the claims against Westinghouse and focus on rebuilding its remaining business units.

[3xBuBu]

GE shares plunge 7% for biggest decline since housing recession after turnaround plan unveiled

General Electric announces it will cut its dividend in half as part of a broader corporate restructuring.
It plans a renewed focus on health care, aviation and energy.
CEO John Flannery (Took over the job in Augest) apologizes on investor day for the company's performance and says GE would be "more focused."
The shares dropped 7.2 percent for their worst single-day decline since April 2009.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/13/ge-announces-broad-restructuring-to-keep-health-care-aviation-and-energy-units.html

[3xBuBu]

Washington tells India Westinghouse could be sold by year end

http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCAKBN19N0Y1-OCABS

The U.S. administration has told India that Westinghouse Electric Co will emerge from bankruptcy and be sold by the year end, industry and diplomatic sources have said, raising the prospect of a Washington-supported sale or bailout for the nuclear firm.

India, like other nuclear nations, has been closely watching the fate of Japanese-owned Westinghouse, which filed for Chapter 11 in March after an estimated $13 billion of cost overruns at two U.S. projects, casting a shadow over the nuclear industry.

There has been debate over potential U.S. support for the reactor maker since owner Toshiba (6502.T: Quote), the laptop-to-chips conglomerate, announced the blow-out at Westinghouse last year.

Some form of U.S. backing or involvement, industry experts say, could avoid a Chinese or Russian buyer unpalatable to Washington, which would prefer to keep Westinghouse's advanced nuclear technology out of the hands of its foreign rivals.