Panasonic Completes Sanyo Acquisition

Upon completion of the acquisition of SANYO Electric Co Ltd. (SANYY), a manufacturer and seller of electronic equipment and rechargeable batteries, Panasonic (PC), a leading manufacturer of electronic and electrical products, systems and components, today announced changes to its subsidiaries to reflect the integration of SANYO’s business.

Panasonic consummated the transaction on Dec 16 with the acquisition of approximately 3.3 billion shares of SANYO (or more than 50% of the company’s total shares) for approximately $4.6 billion (403.8 billion yen). Panasonic now has a 50.2% stake in Sanyo.

As a result of the conversion of the Class B preferred shares of SANYO, which Panasonic acquired through a tender offer, SANYO and its subsidiaries such as SANYO Asia PTE Ltd, SANYO North America Corp. and SANYO Europe Ltd. have now become Panasonic's subsidiaries.

Associated with the acquisition of SANYO’s business activities, Panasonic also implemented certain management changes to simplify the management reporting structure and generate cost savings.

The acquisition of Sanyo is expected to impact Panasonic’s business results for the fiscal year ending March 2010. Moreover, the integration of SANYO and its subsidiaries into Panasonic’s business may take some time. However, we are of the opinion that the acquisition will be accretive to Panasonic’s earnings in the first full year of operations.

SANYO’s business will bring greater expertise to Panasonic in two areas – batteries and solar panels. The energy business of SANYO will be added as Energy Solutions to Panasonic’s business, which will further expand its HIT (crystalline silicon) solar photovoltaic cells and modules (batteries) business and accelerate the development and commercialization of next-generation solar cells.

This acquisition will enable Panasonic to more aggressively compete with market leaders such as Sony (SNE) and Hitachi (HIT) amid growing demand for the rechargeable power source commonly used in mobile phones, laptop PCs and digital cameras.