Toshiba Corp. sold all of its shares in Japan Display Inc. for nearly 4 billion yen ($35 million) in December to improve its financial standing following a profit-padding scandal, the company said Feb. 6.
The company appeared to have netted between 1 billion yen and 2 billion yen from the sale.
Toshiba was desperate to raise its capital adequacy ratio, which reflects fiscal soundness, after the company was found to have engaged in years of dodgy accounting practices to inflate its profits. Its ratio had dropped to a miserable 7.5 percent as of the end of September.
The sale of its shares in Japan Display, a major liquid crystal display manufacturer, was planned before Toshiba’s huge losses from its nuclear power business came to light in December.
Japan Display started operations in April 2012, combining the LCD businesses of Toshiba, Sony Corp. and Hitachi Ltd.
Its top shareholder is the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, a government-affiliated investment fund.
Toshiba held 10 percent of shares in Japan Display at the beginning, but its stake dropped to 1.78 percent before all the shares were sold.