Taipei: Taiwan’s Foxconn is aiming to finalise a deal to acquire Japan’s Sharp Corporation by the end of the month, after the two firms reached a consensus on most points, Foxconn chief executive Terry Gou said.
Foxconn, known formally as Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, has been given preferred negotiating rights and most remaining issues to be resolved were legal and regulatory, Gou said after meeting executives of the struggling electronics maker.
The Apple supplier has offered to invest around 659 billion yen ($5.6bn) in Sharp, sources said – which would make it Foxconn’s biggest deal to date and the largest acquisition by a foreign company in Japan’s insulated tech sector.
“We have a consensus,” Gou told reporters. “The rest is a process ... I don’t see a problem completing this process.”
The meeting with Sharp executives came one day after Sharp’s board decided to focus on Foxconn’s offer over a rival bid from a Japanese state-backed fund.
A deal would give Foxconn access to the Japanese display maker’s cutting-edge technology at a time when clients such as Apple are likely looking ahead to more advanced flexible screens.