Debt Riddled Sharp Gets $7B Takeover Offer
Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles the bulk of the world’s iPhones wants to buy the debt riddled Sharp Corporation, an offer of A$7.7 Billion is believed to have been tabled.
ChannelNews understands that Apple who already has contracts with Sharp is supporting the move and so are the several banks who have been propping up the struggling Japanese Company who sells appliances and copiers in Australia after pulling out of the TV last year.
Sharp, which has been bailed out repeatedly by banks, is set to review a competing offer from Innovation Network of Japan, a government-backed investment fund. Sharp is believed to owe over $3Billion to various banks.
A person familiar with the matter said the fund was weighing a bid of around ?300 billion, a figure earlier reported by the Nikkei newspaper.
ChannelNews was told recently that Apple who are a major customer of Sharp will not support the INL Move.
It also wasn’t clear whether the INCJ bid would require concessions from Sharp’s main creditors.
Japanese officials have expressed concern about letting Sharp come under foreign control, citing the company’s technology in display panels.
Innovation Network of Japan already owns a controlling stake in Japan Display, another major display maker.
Officials say the two Japanese panel makers share know-how in next-generation panel technology and mass production.
“Japan’s technology is leading the rest of the world and we would like to help make it even more competitive,” industry minister Motoo Hayashi said this week.
Although INCJ is the preferred buyer among Tokyo officials because it would keep Sharp under Japanese control, Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, is offering more money for Sharp and a willingness to shoulder all of its debt, people familiar with the offer said.