Panasonic Buys Sanyo to Create Japan’s Largest Electronics Company

From DailyTech: According to a Nikkei Net article, Panasonic Corp. has agreed in principle to buy Sanyo Electric Co. in a deal that would create Japan's largest electronics company.

Panasonic plans to purchase a majority stake in Sanyo and convert it into a subsidiary by next April under an agreement reached by Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo and Sanyo President, Seiichiro Sano.

The two companies are to planning to hold board meetings as early as Friday, and a news conference will be held that day to announce the first merger and acquisition deal between two major Japanese electronics manufacturers.

Panasonic plans to keep the Sanyo brand after the acquisition and will attempt to keep the Sanyo’s employees, but Sanyo will be asked to hasten its restructuring efforts to improve its earnings structure.

Panasonic will start evaluating Sanyo assets immediately and is expected to enter into talks as early as this week with the Sanyo’s three major shareholders, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., the Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. group, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

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