U.S. hedge fund King Street urges Toshiba to speed up share buybacks

(Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp is "severely undervalued" and should boost share repurchases, U.S. hedge fund King Street Capital Management LP said in a letter on Wednesday.

The hedge fund said Toshiba's current share buyback commitment of 700 billion yen ($6.15 billion) is grossly insufficient and urged the company to speed up and increase its share buyback plan to 1.1 trillion yen ($9.66 billion).

"We are frustrated by this lack of progress, and cannot stress enough how critical it is that Toshiba begin implementing its buyback immediately. The sooner Toshiba buys back its stock, the greater Toshiba's returns, given its current undervaluation," the hedge fund said.

King Street said it owns a 6.5 percent stake in Toshiba.

The hedge fund proposed new independent directors at the company in August, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

($1 = 113.8200 yen)

(Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)