Panasonic has bought 50.19 per cent of Sanyo Electric, the world's largest maker of lithium-ion batteries, for 403.8 billion yen.
The Osaka-based company purchased 3,082 million shares in the public offering it started on November 5th, the company said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The world's largest plasma-television maker is strengthening energy-related businesses such as lithium-ion batteries as television sales growth slows because of intensified competition with South-Korea's Samsung Electronics. The company estimates the global lithium-ion battery market will increase fivefold by 2018 from this year.
Panasonic fell 1.9 per cent to 1,226 yen in Tokyo trading today, narrowing its gain this year to 10 per cent. The benchmark Nikkei-225 Stock Average lost 1.4 per cent.
Bloomberg