Struggling Japanese electronics maker Sharp is in talks with Chinese
electronics giant Lenovo Group to work together on the production of
televisions, reports said Thursday.
In the possible tie-up, the
troubled firm is expected to sell all shares in a Chinese subsidiary
operating an LCD TV assembly plant in Nanjing to Lenovo by the year-end,
the Nikkei daily and Jiji Press said.
Sharp's other Chinese
subsidiaries handling development and sales will also be turned into
50-50 joint ventures, the Nikkei said, without citing sources.
Sharp and Lenovo plan to sign a memorandum of understanding as early as this month, the Nikkei said.
The
TVs sold in China will continue to bear the Sharp Aquos brand name,
while plans call for the firms to jointly make inroads into other
markets, including Southeast Asia and South America, it said.
Sharp
hopes to raise the operating rates of these facilities by boosting TV
sales through Lenovo's sales network in China, while Lenovo will use the
partnership to make a full entry into the TV business, the report said.
Sharp said the firm has not made any decision related to its TV business.
Like
rivals Sony and Panasonic, Sharp has suffered a series of credit rating
downgrades and warned it expects to lose about $5.6 billion in the
fiscal year to March and has been on the hunt for suitors.
In
December, the company said it had struck a 9.9 billion yen ($112
million) capital injection deal with chipmaker Qualcomm that would see
the pair develop energy-efficient LCD panels for smartphones using the
Japanese firm's technology.
The US company would initially get about 2.64 percent of Sharp's stock.
Last
year, Sharp said it had reached an $800 million capital injection deal
with Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision, which makes Apple gadgets in China, but
the deal stalled as Sharp's share price nosedived.