Chinese regulators approved the $18 billion sale of Toshiba Corp.’s lucrative flash memory unit to a consortium that includes Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Co.
The nod effectively cleared the last hurdle of the transaction, which needed approvals from regulators around the world, and ends months of drama in one of the most closely watched stories in tech.
Chalk up a win for Orange County’s largest consumer electronics maker, whose estimated 2017 revenue was $6.6 billion, and the buyer group, led by Boston-based Bain Capital and including Apple Inc. in Cupertino, South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc., Dell in Round Rock, Texas, and Western Digital Corp. rival Seagate Technology PLC.
The buy will help Kingston, a big seller of USB, flash and other storage drives, shore up supply of NAND flash for years. The key memory component is the most popular rewritable memory chip used in USB drives, cameras, iPods, smartphones, tablets and other devices.
Toshiba said in a news release that the deal should close on June 1.
It was fueled by a cash crunch at the Japanese conglomerate stemming from its bankrupt U.S. nuclear energy unit and other underperforming business lines. Toshiba’s financial troubles have reshaped OC’s real estate and tech sectors for the past few years.
Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. moved its North American headquarters last year from Irvine to Lake Forest, prompted by lingering financial concerns from its majority owner.
The Business Journal reported in late 2016 that Toshiba Corp. closed the $65 million sale of its main campus at the Irvine Spectrum to Irvine-based real estate investor LBA Realty. The divestiture of the 26-acre site, which included nearly 450,000 square feet of office space, sparked a real estate domino effect for several Toshiba-related business here.
New York-based Toshiba America Inc. finalized a lease about a year ago for 96,000 square feet at 5231 and 5241 California Ave., part of a chain of buildings on the Irvine campus of Broadcom Inc. at University Research Park.
Alteryx Notes
Irvine-based analytics software maker Alteryx Inc. (Nasdaq: AYX) plans to sell $200 million in convertible senior notes in a private offering to institutional investors.
Purchasers will have an option to purchase an additional $30 million in notes in the 30 days following the initial offering. The unsecured notes will bear interest payments semiannually and mature in June 2023 unless converted or repurchased, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
The interest rate, conversion rate and other terms will be determined at pricing.
Alteryx said it intends to use net proceeds to pay the cost of several capped call transactions expected after the offering, as well as for general corporate purposes, including acquisitions or other strategic investments. Alteryx will spend about $17 million of the bond proceeds on the capped calls, a popular hedging strategy when issuing convertible debt.
The company raised $131.4 million in an initial public offering last year, snapping a nearly two-year drought in Orange County IPOs.
Alteryx customers pay a subscription fee for its analytics software to integrate data, monetize content, forecast sales, map retail expansion plans, and compare sales and product placement, among other features.
Revenue hit $131.6 million last year, up 53%. It reported a net loss of $17.5 million, down from a $24.3 million loss in 2016. The company had 555 employees at the close of 2017, about 200 at its Park Place headquarters.
Data Buy
Irvine-based Digital Map Products Inc. has scrubbed and updated more than 400,000 records acquired in November from Mexico Business Directory, the largest geocoded information database for business locations south of the border, with about 1.5 million records.
DMP’s Mexico business database offers detailed and verified information on companies in Mexico gathered from newspapers, magazines and other publications, and trade shows, websites, membership databases, direct business registrations and companies registering directly with DMP.
The company’s cloud-based location and mapping products are used by a variety of businesses—including real estate-related firms, such as Redfin Corp., Realtor.com and CoStar Group Inc.—as well as consumers and more than 200 cities and counties, including seven in OC.
Its software services have more than 350,000 users, and its products generate nearly 4 billion server hits a month, according to the company. Digital Map generates annual revenue topping $20 million and is profitable, Chief Executive Jim Skurzynski told the Business Journal late last year.
Digital Map, according to Crunchbase, has raised $41.2 million since its 2000 inception. Last year it announced a $36.3 million investment by Boston-based growth-equity firm Silversmith Capital Partners.
