Japan regulator to approve Canon's purchase of Toshiba Medical: Nikkei

TOKYO - Japan's anti-monopoly regulator is set to approve Canon Inc's acquisition of Toshiba Corp's medical equipment unit, the Nikkei newspaper said, although it added that the regulator would prohibit further use of the deal's unusual structure. Toshiba, hurt by an accounting scandal and in a hurry to raise cash before closing its books for the business year that ended in March, structured the 665.5 billion yen ($6.5 billion) sale in an unorthodox way so that it could book proceeds before the deal was approved by regulators. At the time, some antitrust and accounting experts said the deal structure was questionable, though they acknowledged it probably did not breach any regulations. The Nikkei business daily said the commission will prohibit schemes in the future where an issuance of warrants allows the seller to receive cash in advance from the acquirer before regulatory approval. The commission declined to comment on the Nikkei and other reports but said it would brief the media at 3. p.m. Tokyo time (0600 GMT). Earlier, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said the commission had been investigating Canon for possible breach of disclosure rules in the Toshiba Medical deal. The source declined to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to the media. Canon declined to comment. A Toshiba spokesman said on Thursday that the company had consulted with experts on the deal and that it saw no problem in the sale process from a legal perspective. -Reuters