Sharp accepts Foxconn takeover bid

Japanese electronics company Sharp has accepted a $4.3 billion (£3.08 billion) takeover bid by Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn.

Sharp’s board has just undertaken a two-day meeting to mull over competing takeover offers, but it seems there was only ever one likely winner.

News of Foxconn’s interest in acquiring Sharp cropped up towards the end of January. It also emerged that the Japanese government was backing a rival bid from an investment fund, but that the amount being offered was well short of the Foxconn bid.

Now it’s been announced that Foxconn will become the first foreign company to take over a Japanese electronics company.

Another report earlier in February cast light on Foxconn’s motives in bidding for Sharp. It seems the Taiwanese manufacturer, which assembles most of Apple’s iPhones, wants to become a major tech player in its own right.

In other words, it wants to design and build its own consumer tech products, not just assemble those of other companies. Samsung and Sony should be looking over their shoulders.

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With the Sharp acquisition all but sealed, Foxconn now finds itself with an instant portfolio of consumer tech, including white goods and solar panels.

Sharp also brings its wealth of display technology expertise to Foxconn’s traditional business. This is a major smartphone and tablet component that Foxconn currently has no deep involvement with, even with its vast production lines.