Toshiba has agreed to accept a buyout offer on Thursday from a Japanese consortium led by the investment fund Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), shedding light on a possible exit from its trouble-prone path over the past several years.

Multiple local media outlets reported that Toshiba held its board of directors meeting on the same day and made the decision with the buyout price projected to be around ¥2 trillion.

It is expected to be funded by other Japanese firms such as Orix and Chubu Electric, while some banks including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking will be offering loans.

JIP will likely buy shares from other shareholders through its takeover bid and take Toshiba private in an apparent effort to speed up the decision-making process focused on rebuilding the struggling firm.

But whether Toshiba’s foreign activist investors will go along with the takeover bid remains unclear. In 2017, Toshiba raised ¥600 billion through overseas investors to improve its finance and avoid being delisted.

Last April, Toshiba began accepting bids and proposals for restructuring from investors and sponsors.

Toshiba reportedly selected four bidders in July — the consortium led by JIP as well as private equity firms Bain Capital, CVC Capital Partners and Brookfield Asset Management.

The firm apparently gave a preferential negotiation right to JIP, which submitted a restructuring proposal last November. Toshiba confirmed last month that it was assessing a buyout proposal by JIP.

During a news conference to disclose its earnings report last month, Toshiba Vice President and CFO Masayoshi Hirata said it was unlikely that any buyout would happen by the end of March, saying the process would take more time.

The Tokyo-based industrial conglomerate has faced a series of problems and scandals over the past several years, including the 2015 case of accounting malpractice, the bankruptcy of troubled U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse and reports of weak corporate governance.

Toshiba’s reputation was further damaged in 2021 after it was found to have colluded with the government to influence foreign investors’ voting behavior at an annual shareholders meeting.

In the wake of these issues, Toshiba was forced to sell off and withdraw from a number of businesses — including memory chips, overseas nuclear construction and medical equipment — in order to keep itself afloat.

Compared with their peak of over ¥7.6 trillion recorded in fiscal 2007, Toshiba sales had shrunk to less than half of that figure by fiscal 2021.

Information from Kyodo added