WASHINGTON (Kyodo) The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday it has conditionally approved Panasonic Corp.'s plan to buy Sanyo Electric Co., clearing the last hurdle for Sanyo to become a Panasonic subsidiary.
The two companies agreed to sell part of Sanyo's portable nickel metal hydride battery business to FDK Corp., a Fujitsu Ltd. subsidiary, and this will preserve competition after Panasonic's proposed $9 billion acquisition of Sanyo, the FTC said.
"The sale of the assets resolves competitive concerns that were raised by the transaction, which combines the world's two largest manufacturers and sellers of these batteries. No competitive concerns were raised by other overlaps between the companies," the FTC said in a statement.