Panasonic Sanyo acquisition has been approved by the Ministry of Commerce
After nearly 11 months of a comprehensive review of the acquisition,Panasonic acquisition of Sanyo has obtained the official reply of China Ministry of Commerce. Last weekend, China Ministry of Commerce said in public that the approval of Panasonic's acquisition needed the attached conditions.
The Commerce Department received the application of Matsushita's acquisition of Sanyo's operating concentration on anti-trust declaration on January 21, 2009. Accodring to reviewing, the Ministry of Commerce confirmed that the concentration of anti-monopoly operator will have a limit or exclude competitive effects on the coin-type lithium secondary battery, civil nickel-metal hydride batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries.
In order to reduce the adverse effects of market competition for acquisition of Sanyo, the Ministry of Commerce approved the acquisition of the additional condition, stripping all of Sanyo's current coin-type lithium secondary battery business; spin-off civilian Ni-MH battery business of Sanyo or Panasonic etc.. It is said that European antitrust regulators as well as U.S. regulatory agencies would have approved the acquisition of Sanyo, Matsushita matter.
It is reported that last year, Panasonic announced the acquisition of the world's largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries, Sanyo. but the plan approved before the adoption of the relevant registration has been in a frozen state. According to foreign media reports, after Japan's Matsushita obtaining the approval of the China, they will submit the acquiration of its rival Sanyo Electric's tender offer on November 5th.
Sanyo Electric Co. will supply batteries for Peugeot hybrid cars
iStockAnalyst close to the matter said that on Sunday,Sanyo Electric Co.plans to supply the PSA Peugeot Citroen group's diesel-electric hybrid cars with batteries, making the French automaker its fifth client in the business.
Sanyo has been greatly expanding the vehicle battery business with a policy of not tying up with specific automakers.
The Osaka-based company has already been supplying batteries to Honda Motor Co.,Volkswagen AG and .Ford Motor Co..It is said that they plan to supply Toyota Motor Corp.as well.
Under the deal with the Peugeot group, Sanyo will provide nickel-metal hybrid cells for Peugeot's two hybrid models that the French carmaker plans to launch in 2011.
"Sanyo will produce the batteries at its plant in Sumoto, Hyogo Prefecture, and assemble them at a plant in Kasai in the same prefecture according to specifications that the two companies will develop jointly " iStockAnalyst said.