For much of last year, global private equity firms were waiting for Japan’s biggest ever take-private deal to materialise with the buyout of Toshiba.

Had the 147-year-old industrial conglomerate with its size and national significance put itself in the hands of a firm like Bain Capital, Brookfield or CVC, it would have been a historic moment for private equity’s advance into Asia’s largest advanced economy.

Unfortunately, and perhaps not surprisingly for a saga that began with an accounting scandal in 2015, the waiting game continues. All the latest signals suggest that the company’s management is keen to get a deal done with a consortium led by domestic buyout fund Japan Industrial Partners, which was granted the preferred bidder status in October.