Toshiba sees £2.7 billion balance sheet improvement from Westinghouse deal

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp said on Thursday it would sell its claims in bankrupt nuclear unit Westinghouse Electric Co to a group led by the Baupost Group - a move that would contribute to an improvement of about 410 billion yen (£2.7 billion) in its balance sheet.

Confirming an earlier Reuters report, the Japanese conglomerate also said it had agreed a deal to transfer its stake in the unit to Brookfield WEC Holdings.

The 410 billion yen figure includes an after-tax profit of about 170 billion yen from the sale of its claims, and tax benefits of about 240 billion yen, Toshiba said in a statement.

Combined with the 600 billion yen in new shares it issued last month, Toshiba would be able to avoid falling into negative net worth for the business year to end-March, it said.

The transfer of Westinghouse shares to Brookfield, for $1, is expected to be completed by March 31, Toshiba said.

(This story has been refiled to correct figures in third paragraph.)

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; editing by Richard Pullin)