AFP, Tokyo :
Sharp shares soared more than 25 percent in Tokyo Thursday following reports its board is favouring accepting a $5.0 billion bailout from Taiwanese giant Hon Hai Precision. The embattled Japanese electronics giant — which has teetered on the edge of bankruptcy for years — kicked off a critical directors’ meeting Thursday morning to review competing bids, including a proposal from a domestic investment firm.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK and the Jiji Press news agency said Sharp’s board was leaning toward the more than 600 billion yen offer from Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn, a key Apple supplier.
The public-private Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) has offered around 300 billion yen to rehabilitate the century-old company, which started life as a belt buckle and pencil maker.
The company, which reports its latest earnings Thursday, declined to confirm the reports but spokesman Tsutomu Hirano told AFP “it is true that we are studying proposals from multiple companies”.
After soaring initially, Sharp’s volatile shares settled back slightly to around 161 yen, up 18.25 percent.
The Aquos-brand maker, which is also an Apple supplier, has fallen on hard times in recent years, piling up eye-watering losses and ushering in a restructuring plan that has yet to pull it out of the mire. In October, it posted a whopping six-month net loss of nearly $700 million, hit by restructuring costs and a slump in demand for its smartphone screens. However, the company remains a leader in liquid crystal display technology, a key asset for Hon Hai.
The Taiwanese group’s chairman Terry Gou met Sharp’s board at their Osaka headquarters last week to make his case for a raised bid of about 660 billion yen, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Earlier reports had suggested Sharp was learning toward the offer from INCJ, which is the main shareholder in rival Japan Display.
Sharp shares soared more than 25 percent in Tokyo Thursday following reports its board is favouring accepting a $5.0 billion bailout from Taiwanese giant Hon Hai Precision. The embattled Japanese electronics giant — which has teetered on the edge of bankruptcy for years — kicked off a critical directors’ meeting Thursday morning to review competing bids, including a proposal from a domestic investment firm.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK and the Jiji Press news agency said Sharp’s board was leaning toward the more than 600 billion yen offer from Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn, a key Apple supplier.
The public-private Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) has offered around 300 billion yen to rehabilitate the century-old company, which started life as a belt buckle and pencil maker.
The company, which reports its latest earnings Thursday, declined to confirm the reports but spokesman Tsutomu Hirano told AFP “it is true that we are studying proposals from multiple companies”.
After soaring initially, Sharp’s volatile shares settled back slightly to around 161 yen, up 18.25 percent.
The Aquos-brand maker, which is also an Apple supplier, has fallen on hard times in recent years, piling up eye-watering losses and ushering in a restructuring plan that has yet to pull it out of the mire. In October, it posted a whopping six-month net loss of nearly $700 million, hit by restructuring costs and a slump in demand for its smartphone screens. However, the company remains a leader in liquid crystal display technology, a key asset for Hon Hai.
The Taiwanese group’s chairman Terry Gou met Sharp’s board at their Osaka headquarters last week to make his case for a raised bid of about 660 billion yen, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Earlier reports had suggested Sharp was learning toward the offer from INCJ, which is the main shareholder in rival Japan Display.
