Japan's Toshiba confirms $20-billion takeover bid from British fund

Toshiba is one of Japan's oldest and largest firms whose business empire stretches from home electronics to nuclear power stations

Japanese conglomerate Toshiba has received a buyout offer from a British private equity fund in a deal that could be worth about $20 billion (14.5 billion euros).

The scandal-hit firm's shares were temporarily halted on Tokyo's stock exchange after it confirmed the bid by CVC Capital Partners.

If successful, it will allow Toshiba to focus on renewable energy and other core businesses, reports suggested.

Toshiba's US-listed shares rocketed almost 20 per cent after the bid was revealed.

The conglomerate has been at the centre of a number of scandals in recent years, including false accounting and huge losses linked to its US nuclear unit.

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