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Shoppers ride on escalators past Sharp Corp. advertisements at an electronics store in Tokyo. (Bloomberg) |
TOKYO (AFP) ― Japanese electronics giant Sharp is considering selling overseas factories to Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision in a bid to turn around its ailing finances, reports said Saturday.
The reports came as Hon Hai pushes to change the terms of its agreement to take a 10-percent stake in the cash-strapped firm, whose shares plunged this month after it announced a huge loss.
The Nikkei business daily said Sharp was eyeing sales of its liquid crystal display module plants, adding that the firm may also consider sales of domestic plants.
Sharp has LCD module plants in Mexico, Poland, China and Malaysia, the Nikkei said.
The firm is combing through its asset list and is planning to make a decision on the sale by the end of September, Kyodo News said.
Hon Hai, parent company of manufacturer Foxconn which builds gadgets for Apple, already jointly uses Sharp’s plants as production has slowed amid languishing TV sales.
Sharp this month reported that it lost $1.77 billion in April-June and warned of a bigger full-year shortfall than first expected, prompting its shares to fall below 200 yen.
Hon Hai agreed in March to take a 10-percent stake in Sharp for about 550 yen ($7) per share but the firms are now renegotiating the investment.
Taiwan’s Investment Commission on Thursday returned Hon Hai’s application to buy the stake in Sharp and asked for more information about the deal, saying it feared the price was too high.
