OCZ today announced it has signed a purchase agreement with Toshiba. The latter will acquire substantially all of OCZ's assets in a chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding for $35 million. Under this agreement Toshiba will acquire OCZ's client and enterprise solid state drive business. OCZ will continue to operate and serve existing and future customers during this process.
Toshiba has agreed to provide the Company with DIP (Debtor-in-Possession) financing to ensure that there is adequate capital and flash supply to support the business during the contemplated sale period. The consummation of the asset purchase agreement is subject to an auction and approval by the bankruptcy court in the Company's bankruptcy case.
Last week OCZ announced it would file for bankruptcy and would likely sell its assets to Toshiba. The acquisition of OCZ provides Toshiba with access to OCZ's SSD controllers, firmware and software, as well as its employees.
Toshiba also increases its market share with the acquisition of OCZ's established brand and sales channels. With the purchase Toshiba becomes a strong player in the highly competitive SSD market. The company now has access to the controller, NAND flash and all intellectual property to successfully bring SSD drives to market.
Toshiba and OCZ were already in business together, Toshiba supplied OCZ with NAND flash. Interesting fact is that OCZ suffered from a shortage in supply of NAND chips which means Toshiba could have been part of the situation of OCZ but that's pure speculation.
Previously we reported about rumors saying Toshiba would only acquire OCZ's consumer division (partly true) and about Seagate possibly bidding for OCZs assets (not true).
The acquisition has been approved by the Board of Directors of OCZ, and it is expected that the sale will close within approximately 60 days.
