Saturday, 01 December 2012 10:02
TOKYO: Sharp Corp has agreed to sell three of its television assembly factories outside Japan to Hon Hai Precision Industry, a deal which would total about 55 billion yen ($666.91 million), the Sankei newspaper reported on Saturday.
The daily, citing sources it did not identify, said both companies have reached an agreement for debt-laden Japanese consumer electronics firm Sharp to sell its television factories in Mexico, China and Malaysia to Hon Hai.
The sale of Sharp's Mexican plant could go ahead as soon as in December, the paper said.
"Hon Hai is mostly enthusiastic about buying the Mexican plant," the paper quoted a Sharp source as saying.
An official at Sharp was not immediately available for comment.
Sharp has four television plants away from Japan, but the sales would not include its facility in Poland, the paper said.
Taiwan's Hon Hai is considering becoming the biggest stakeholder in the century-old Japanese firm, which has lost three-quarters of its value so far this year.
Last month, Sharp nearly doubled its forecast full-year net loss to 450 billion yen after booking a $1.1 billion restructuring charge in July-September.
Locked out of the debt capital markets as a result of its massive losses and falling market share, Sharp received a guarantee for 360 billion yen in loans from its two main lenders, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Corporate Bank, in September.
Copyright Reuters, 2012