Hitachi Ltd. said Wednesday it will launch a tender offer on Oct. 25 to acquire a controlling stake in Clarion Co., a leading maker of car audio and navigation equipment, to boost the group's sales in the growing car information systems market.
Hitachi, already the top shareholder in Clarion with a 14.4 percent stake, offered 230 yen per share -- a 55 percent premium over Tuesday's closing price of 151 yen and 33 percent higher than the shares' average price over the past three months -- in an effort to acquire more than 50 percent of Clarion stock and make the firm a consolidated subsidiary.
Hitachi said it will spend up to 55.7 billion yen on the tender offer.