Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group and Sharp Corp. worked through the weekend to salvage their proposed $6 billion deal with one potential outcome being a revision to terms the Japanese company’s board approved just last week, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bankers and lawyers are going through a list of Sharp liabilities that could exceed 300 billion yen ($2.6 billion), a last-minute stumbling block in Foxconn’s effort to take control of the struggling Japanese company, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the talks aren’t public. It’s too early to tell whether Foxconn will lower the value of its offer for Sharp or change its bid in some other way, said the people. Any material change to the offer would require Sharp’s board to vote again on the Foxconn proposal, the people said.
Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou has fought for months to take over Sharp, battling a competing offer from a once-favored domestic bidder, Innovation Network Corp. of Japan. Foxconn offered a package worth in excess of 600 billion yen — more than twice INCJ’s bid — with most of the money going into Sharp through the purchase of additional shares. Only hours after Sharp’s board approved its offer on Thursday, Foxconn said it had received new information from Sharp and wouldn’t go through with the deal until it had resolved the issues.
“It’s a complicated situation. It’s difficult to judge whether Foxconn is shaking up Sharp or they really need some time to check the facts,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo.
