On-off Sony-Sharp deal is on again

THE DEAL between Sony and Sharp, which last week looked like it was set to fail, has been finally negotiated.

The deal will see Sony invest more than $1.1 billion in a liquid crystal display panel venture with Sharp.

According to the Nikkei business daily, the joint venture has gone ahead thanks to some clever last minute negotiations, facilitated by a little judicious corporate banging together of heads.

Sony announced last year that it planned to take a 34 per cent stake in a partnership with Sharp to manage the LCD panel factory in western Japan. The pair could not come to a final agreement on the stake at the time and the investment split.

But now final plans for the plant are expected to be sorted out by the end of the month, with Sony stumping up $600 million initially.

The big idea is that Sony will get enough panels for the growing LCD TV market while giving Sharp a partner to share the bills.

The plant will be in the western Japanese city of Sakai. Flat panel TV demand is starting to recover.

The factory will handle 10th-generation glass substrates, which are bigger than earlier generation substrates and help reduce per-panel production costs. µ