Struggling Sanyo Electric Co said Wednesday it will sell off all
of its 45% stake in liquid crystal display maker Sanyo Epson
Imagining Devices Corp to Seiko Epson Corp, a joint owner of the
company.
The decision was made as Sanyo has been driven by necessity to
focus on profitable businesses and withdraw from non-core
operations. Sanyo expects to post a group net loss of 50 billion
yen for the current business year to next March.
The agreement will lighten the burden for Sanyo, the consumer
electronics giant that received a 300 billion yen ($2.57 billion)
bailout from banks and is in the middle of a company-wide
restructuring, while allow Seiko Epson to focus on reviving its
struggling display business.
The sale will leave Sanyo, which has already withdrawn from the
organic light-emitting diode business and makes no cathode ray
tubes or plasma panels, with no display operations.
Seiko Epson Corp aims to quickly turn around the world's
third-largest maker of small- and medium-sized LCDs used in
cellphones and digital cameras.
Separately, Seiko Epson said on Tuesday the LCD joint venture was
under investigation by fair trade authorities in Japan and the
United States. The authorities are also looking into other panel
makers for possible price fixing.