Panasonic to acquire all shares of Sanyo for $9.4billion
Japanese electronics giant Panasonic plans to buy out subsidiaries of Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works for up to 818.4billion yen ($9.4 billion). The acquisition is being made in a bid to strengthen Panasonic's push into greener businesses.
Panasonic bought a 50% stake in Sanyo in December for $4billion and owns 51% of Panasonic Electric Works, which manufactures housing materials and lighting equipment.
After making the two subsidiaries wholly owned, the organisation plans to realign its structure into three core businesses by January 2012.
The deal is expected to allow Panasonic to put more resources into solar cells, lithium ion batteries and other energy-related areas.
Panasonic's president, Fumio Ohtsubo has been shifting away from low margin home electronics products and investing more aggressively in these markets which he says offer promising growth prospects.
The company will launch an offer for the two subsidiaries from August 23 to October 6.
