Bain Capital to support Toshiba Memory pursue chip sector acquisitions

TOKYO (Reuters) - Bain Capital, which led the $18 billion acquisition of Toshiba Memory Corp, said on Monday it plans to support the business in pursuing acquisitions in the chip industry.

"I believe our financing power will enable Toshiba Memory engage in large-scale M&A deals," Yuji Sugimoto, head of Bain Capital in Japan, said at a news conference after its consortium completed the deal last week.

Bain will hold discussions with Toshiba Memory president Yasuo Naruke on what kind of technologies or acquisitions would be needed strategically for the company ahead, he added.

Naruke said the firm would in the longer term need various technologies relating to next generation memory chips.

Last September, the Bain consortium won a long and highly contentious battle for Toshiba Corp's chip business, the world's No. 2 producer of NAND chips.

Toshiba Corp, which put the business up for sale after billions of dollars in cost overruns at its Westinghouse nuclear unit plunged it into crisis, has reinvested in its former unit and now owns roughly 40 percent.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)