Toshiba board planned to oust CEO before $20 billion buyout offer: Sources

TOKYO: Toshiba’s board planned to oust troubled CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani before CVC Capital Partners launched a $20 billion buyout bid last week, informing him a day before the offer was announced that it would replace him, people familiar with the matter said.

Two members of Toshiba Corp’s nomination committee, including board chairman Osamu Nagayama, met Kurumatani, himself a former CVC executive, and told him they intended to look for a new chief executive, three of the people said.

Kurumatani then told them of the European private equity firm’s plan to take Toshiba private, the three people said. A day later, the Japanese conglomerate announced it had received the offer, two of them said.