The story of the sale of shares of the Japanese company Japan Display to Chinese investors, which has been going on since the end of last year, has come to an end. On Friday, Japan's last national display maker, LCD, said it would go to Sino-Taiwan consortium Suwa, close to a majority stake. Taiwanese company TPK Holding and Chinese investment fund Harvest Group became key participants in the Suwa consortium. Note that these are not at all the figurants about whom the rumors spoke. However, the consortium acquired a 49,8% stake in Japan Display in exchange for 232 billion yen ($2,1 billion) in funding.
TPK and Harvest have each invested up to 80 billion yen in Japan Display shares and bonds, but the buyers' goals differ. Taiwanese TPK is considering a Japanese manufacturer as a partner for the production of LCD screens with touch films of its own production. Together they will develop the production of LCD touch panels.
The Chinese company Harvest Group sets itself a different task. The investor gives money to the Japanese to develop and expand the production of OLED screens. Japan Display has lagged behind the industry leaders in this area and is in desperate need of money to develop. The Chinese are ready to help, but Japan Display will probably have to build an advanced factory on the mainland to do this. However, there is no reliable information on this yet.
The former key investor in Japan Display, the Japanese pro-government fund INCJ, will restructure its contribution to the manufacturer and reduce its participation in the company from 25,3% to 12,7%. Previously, INCJ's job was to keep foreign investors away from Japan Display. Alas, this did not save Japan Display from losses, which it shows for the fifth year in a row. The Japanese turned out to be highly dependent on Apple products, which brought them up to half of their revenue. As soon as the demand for Apple smartphones fell, Japan Display began to lose money rapidly. An influx of fresh finance from foreigners seems to be a reasonable way out of a difficult situation. Sharp has taken the same path and has no regrets.
Source: 3dnews.ru