Sharp Corp. may turn to the last resort for Japanese companies facing potential bankruptcy — the government.

With ¥200 billion of convertible bonds maturing in 2013, Sharp may have to ask the governmental Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. or Innovation Network Corp. of Japan for money, said Fumiaki Sato, cofounder of Sangyo Sosei Advisory Inc., a turnaround advisory firm.

Sharp has failed to win a planned ¥67 billion equity investment from billionaire Terry Gou's Foxconn Technology Group.