Kyocera to Buy Sanyo Mobile Phone Business
September 14, 2007 2:52 PM | Kyocera | Sanyo | Comments (0)
| Kyocera Corp is about to purchase Sanyo Electric's money losing mobile phone business for about 50 billion yen ($435 million). Both companies share prices went higher in approval of investors looking at it as a welcome sign of consolidation in Japan's already overcrowded handset market. Japanese handset manufacturers such as Sanyo and others face stiff competition from larger competitors such as Nokia and Motorola, as well as a maturing market. Sanyo has been restructuring with the help of Goldman Sachs and the sale of the mobile phone unit would be the latest step by Sanyo to rid non-core or struggling businesses to focus on key operations such as rechargeable batteries. Sanyo, which has lost money for the last three business years, has sold its stake in leasing firm Sanyo Electric Credit Co to General Electric Co this year and is seeking a buyer for its microchip unit. |  |
According to research firm Gartner, Kyocera was the world's 10th largest mobile phone maker in the second quarter of calendar 2007 in unit sales to end-users while Sanyo was the 11th largest.
