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China Approves Foxconn’s Acquisition Of Sharp

Sharp officially announced on Friday that Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry provided capital as part of a deal to bail out the troubled Japanese electronics company.

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The announcement came after Tokyo trading closed.

The company is expected to hold a board meeting on Saturday to name Tai Cheng-wu (戴正吳), vice chairman of the Hon Hai Group, as Sharp’s new president.

Revenue at Hon Hai fell 5.2 percent to NT$922 billion compared to analyst expectations of NT$937.8 billion.

Foxconn will own two thirds of Sharp when the deal goes through it has now been given the green light by the Chinese regulators.

Foxconn agreed in March to acquire Sharp and said it plans to turn around the legendary but struggling Japanese brand.

Sharp had initially hoped to receive Foxconn’s cash by the end of June. While not a full merger, the strategic partnership had every potential to create a monopoly on contract electronics manufacturing in Asia, which is why it was being reviewed by Chinese antitrust authorities and finally got approval to move forward on Thursday. The prolonging of the deal caused a flux in stocks of both companies, with Sharp stocks actually ending up slightly below the mark set for acquisition, which was 88 yen ($0.86) per share, for a short time.

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Sharp shares had been battered by uncertainty about the acquisition deal and future business outlook but jumped almost 20 percent to finish at 106 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday after the antimonopoly authorities’ clearance. Sharp is also a supplier of screens used in Apple’s iPhones.

In forex markets the dollar stood at 102.01 yen little changed from 102.02 yen in New York