Haier to buy home appliance units of Sanyo Electric

Panasonic Corp plans to sell the Japanese and Southeast Asian electric washing machine and refrigerator units of its subsidiary Sanyo Electric to China's Haier Group for a reported $130 million.

Qingdao, Shandong Province-based Haier, the world's 4th largest whitegoods manufacturer with annual turnover of nearly $21 billion, will buy Sanyo's refrigerator, washing machine and other consumer electric appliances business in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The acquisition will cover the research and development and manufacturing facilities as well as the sales and service business of Sanyo's electric consumer electric appliances, including the washing machine brand "AQUA" and other "AQUA" related brands.

Haier and Sanyo Electric have reached an agreement on the use of the "Sanyo" brand and post closing, Haier will adopt a dual-brand strategy in Japan with "Haier" and "AQUA" brands. Haier will use the "Haier" brand in Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, and use the "Sanyo" brand in these markets for a specified period of time.

Sanyo's washing machine and refrigerator businesses generated revenues of Y85.6 billion last year (nearly$1 billion), while the company posted a net loss of Y35.16 billion on revenues of Y1.489 trillion.

Haier and Sanyo had entered into a 40:60 per cent joint venture agreement in 2002 for selling Sanyo's products in China through Haier's sales network under Sanyo and Haier brand names, while Haier's products will be sold in Japan.