The global recession has spurred mergers and buyouts around the world – Panasonic purchased Sanyo earlier this month for 862 billion yen ($8.7 billion USD). Together, both Panasonic and Sanyo have revenues of around 11 trillion yen and will be bigger than Sony (at 9 trillion yen) and second only to Hitachi which had marginally more revenues for the financial year ending March 31st. The deal has been supported by investment firm Goldsman Sachs Group, one of Sanyo’s major shareholders, which is reportedly keen to offload the company in a bid to strengthen its balance sheet. Both companies are direct competitors to Sony, and dabble in nearly every single market Sony holds a premium name in such as cameras, televisions, and much more.
Sanyo will continue trading as a subsidiary of Panasonic and will bring its expertise in the renewable energy field including solar power and rechargeable batteries.
Speaking of the impending acquisition, Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo told Reuters at a news conference that “Adverse business conditions are making it difficult for us to achieve the kind of growth we have been striving for; we need a new growth engine within our group.”
Interestingly, the founders of Sanyo and Panasonic were brothers-in-law.
