Sony Corp. will absorb struggling group firm Aiwa Co. on Dec. 1, the two companies said Friday.
Aiwa, a maker of electronic and electrical machines and equipment that is currently owned 61.4 percent by Sony, will become a wholly owed subsidiary of Sony on Tuesday through an equity swap deal, the companies said in a joint statement. Aiwa has carried out a series of drastic measures to streamline operations, closing, for example, all domestic production plants and cutting its full-time workforce.
As a result, it is scheduled to meet its target of cutting consolidated fixed costs to one-third their level as of February, when the two firms reached an agreement to make Aiwa a wholly owned Sony subsidiary. Although the integration has proceeded smoothly, the two firms decided that a complete merger would help the "speedy and effective implementation of the Sony group strategy."