Toshiba will probably miss a May 1 deadline to sell its memory chips business to a Bain Capital-led group, but says that it still intends to close transaction as soon as possible.

Chinese regulators are now conducting a third review of the deal, which is due to be completed by May 28. The process was originally supposed to be wrapped up by March 31.

Toshiba originally put its memory business on the block under duress when it needed billions to pay for losses in its nuclear operations, but it has since raised cash to alleviate those concerns.

"Toshiba still intends to close the memory business transaction as soon as possible, and has not decided any concrete policy for the alternative, including termination of the transaction under certain circumstances," Toshiba said n a statement.

The sale may have been caught up in the increasingly acrimonious U.S.-China trade dispute because Bain Capital s an American company.

China's manufacturers buy memory chips from Toshiba and others and the country is also spending billions to build up its domestic industry. Officials at China's Ministry of Commerce could impose conditions that would impact the value of the business, such as requiring Toshiba to freeze prices or separate its solid-state disk and chip memory operations.