Panasonic Corporation and Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. have agreed on the terms of Panasonic’s acquisition of Sanyo. Panasonic is launching a public tender offer at ¥131 per share of common stock and ¥1,310 per share of preferred stock, resulting in a deal worth about US$9 billion. They will restructure to maximize their resources and are clearly aiming to position themselves as major suppliers of components to car manufacturers as the transition from liquid fuel to electric drivetrains gathers pace.

One of the biggest areas of improvment for Panasonic is batteries. The acquisition will, among other things, increase Panasonic’s share of the rechargeable battery market to 38% from 10% this year, according to a Goldman Sachs analyst report. Panasonic, which currently provides NiMH packs to Toyota and is developing Li-ion packs through its PEVE joint venture, says that it will make active investments in batteries for HEVs (hybrid electric vehicle) and EV (electric vehicles).

Sanyo currently provides NiMH batteries for Ford and Honda HEVs, is co-developing next-generation NiMH systems with Volkswagen, and is also working on Li-ion systems.

Another primary area of synergy, according to Panasonic, is in solar cells. The two will expand current business in the area of highly efficient HIT (crystalline silicon) solar photovoltaic cells and modules and accelerate development and commercialization of next-generation solar cells.