Final agreement signed for Haier’s acquisition over Sanyo

LIANG Haishan (6th person from the right), executive vice president of Haier Group, and Mitsuru HOMMA, vice president of SANYO Electric Co. Ltd (7th person from the right), signed SPA in Qingdao. YANG Mianmian (8th person from the right), president of Haier Group, attended the signing ceremony. Shandong province, China, October 18, 2011.

>> Haier signs MOU to acquire some Sanyo operations

The details of the final agreement, which is largely in line with the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on July 28 of this year, include: Shares of “Sanyo Aqua Corporation”, a company that develops, manufactures and sells both consumer and commercial use washing machines, and shares that Sanyo Electric holds in “Konan Denki Co., Ltd.”, a company that manufactures washing machines, will be transferred to Haier;  Shares that Sanyo Electric holds in “Haier Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.”, a company that designs and develops consumer use refrigerators, and shares that Sanyo Electric holds in “Haier Electrical Appliance (Thailand) Co., Ltd.”, a company that manufactures consumer use refrigerators, will be transferred to Haier; and Sanyo HA  Asean Corporation (Vietnam), P.T. Sanyo Indonesia, P.T. Sanyo Sales Indonesia, Sanyo Philippines Inc. and Sanyo Sales & Service Sdn Bhd (Malaysia) will be transferred to Haier. 

The above companies engage in the manufacturing and/or sales of consumer use refrigerators, washing machines and other consumer use appliances in Southeast Asia.

Du Jingguo, vice president of Haier Group said: “This acquisition is not one that simply brings together the resources from Haier and Sanyo, but one that enables us to createa synergy of research and development (R&D) and marketing systems by combining the resources of both companies.”

“This is an opportune time for Haier to augment our R&Dcapabilities and build up first-class, competitive manufacturing bases across Japan and Southeast Asia, as well as localise our sales and marketingefforts in Southeast Asia.  Haier will implement a dual-brand strategy with the “Haier” and “Sanyo” brandsin Southeast Asian markets, and with the “Haier” and “Aqua” brands in Japan, so as to achieve rapid growth from our innovation-led processes.” 

Both parties agree that Haier will sell refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, air conditioners and other consumer home appliances under the “Sanyo” brand for a specified period of time in Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia.

The patents, designs and trademarks related to consumer use refrigerators and consumer/commercial use washing machines of the aforementioned businesses will be transferred to Haier.  About 340 employees of Sanyo Group in Japan working for the related businesses will be transferred to Haier.

Following the final agreement, both parties intend to gradually complete transfer of the businesses from January to late March 2012.

Established in 1984, Haier Group is a multinational consumer electric and home appliances company headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong, People’s Republic of China.  In 2010, its global revenue was $ 20.7 billion.  Haier Group’s home appliances and consumer electric business cover the research & development, manufacturing and sales of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters, kitchen appliances, color TV, computers, mobile phones and U-Home Series products.

Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., a member of the Panasonic Group, is a global company with leading energy and environmental technology and products for commercial and consumer use. Sanyo offers products and services that focus on energy generation, energy storage and efficient energy usage, such as photovoltaic (solar) systems, small- to large-scale-use rechargeable batteries, as well as other energy-efficient products and electronic components that are designed with the environment in mind.