Panasonic tables Sanyo offer to create clean tech powerhouse

Panasonic's year-long courtship of rival Sanyo edged towards consummation this week when the electronics giant tabled a $4.5bn (£2.7bn) takeover bid in a move intended to create a new clean tech powerhouse.

Panasonic said the Y131 (88p) per share offer would stay open until 7 December, but despite the bid being nearly half Sanyo's current share price, prospects for a deal look good with the company's three major shareholders – Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking – all confirming they would sell their stakes at the offered price.

Sanyo's executive vice president, Mitsuru Honma, also told Reuters that he regarded the offer as a reasonable price.

Panasonic is expected to end up with a majority stake of 70 per cent in its former rival, with smaller shareholders retaining a 30 per cent stake.

The deal, which is expected to receive regulatory approval from anti-competition bodies in the coming months, is likely to reshape a large number of clean tech markets.

Sanyo is the world's largest provider of rechargeable batteries for laptops and gadgets, and has also built a sizable presence in the electric vehicle market, providing batteries to a number of auto giants including Honda, Ford and Peugeot Citroen.

Meanwhile, Panasonic is developing battery technologies for hybrids and electric cars with Toyota and regards the deal as an opportunity to dominate the fast-expanding market.

Both companies also have a presence in the renewable energy sector through their work on solar cells and fuel cells and Panasonic is keen to bolster its position as a provider of renewable energy infrastructure through the development of both large-scale energy storage systems and low-carbon generation technologies.

Honma told Reuters that the company was poised to invest a "humongous amount " of money in ramping up production capacity across its battery and solar cell business.

He said the company was on track to reach 600MW of solar capacity by March 2011 and it expected solar panel prices to fall by up to a third next year as the industry continues to cut manufacturing costs.

He also revealed that having this week signed a deal to provide Peugeot with batteries for its line of hybrids, the company was in talks with several other car firms and was aiming to become the world's largest supplier of batteries to the electric vehicle market.