Talks between Panasonic and Sanyo initiated last month regarding an acquisition have come to a boil and a price of $9 billion ($1.47 per share) has been set. We might not see many Panasonic handsets this side of the pond, they’re big in Japan, having hit the 100 million sales mark earlier this year. Sanyo’s are a little more popular here, with a few rugged flips popping up recently, but still far from a big name in mobile. Rough economic waters are making acquisitions viable and necessary courses for many companies, including two recently gobbled up by RIM, for example. As much as Panasonic has to gain from Sanyo’s foothold in the North American mobile market, the biggest gains will be in renewable energy.
“The synergies are there in the long run,” [Kazumasa Kubota, analyst with Okasan Securities Co.] said. “The solar business is a definite positive for Panasonic, and it can also hope to gain all the patents Sanyo has in rechargeable batteries.” … “Given the rapidly changing environment, we came to the conclusion to sell our stake for the benefit of all Sanyo stake holders,” Goldman Sachs spokeswoman Hiroko Matsumoto said.
[via AP]