【英语财经】富士康计划以51亿美元竞购夏普 Sharp target of $5.1bn bidding war

Struggling electronics group Sharp has become the object of a bidding war between Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry and a Japanese state-backed fund.

Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, has submitted a bid of Y600bn ($5.1bn) for Sharp, two people close to the situation said on Thursday. State-controlled Innovation Network Corporation of Japan has also made an offer, the people said, reflecting government concern that Sharp’s technology might fall into foreign hands.

Shares in Sharp surged as much as 23 per cent after Hon Hai’s bid was reported by the Wall Street Journal, before retreating to trade 6.6 per cent higher by late afternoon in Tokyo, giving the company a market capitalisation of Y233.8bn. INCJ’s bid was reported by Japanese media earlier in the week.

Once one of the world’s leading electronics groups, Sharp has now fallen on hard times as it has lost share in display panels to competitors in South Korea and China, and its once lucrative mobile phone sales in Japan have fallen precipitously.

It warned of “material uncertainty” around its ability to stay in business after reporting a net loss of Y222bn in the 12 months to the end of March 2015.

In 2013, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics paid $111m for a 3 per cent stake in Sharp, a move seen as aimed at keeping afloat a useful component supplier.

But while Samsung never showed interest in an outright takeover of Sharp, rumours have long circulated about a bid by Hon Hai, whose chairman Terry Gou acquired 38 per cent of Sharp’s LCD panel unit in 2012 through a personal investment vehicle.

In December, Sharp’s share price jumped after Mr Gou told Taiwan’s national news agency that he could get Sharp to break even within two years if he took full control. A report at that time said Hon Hai might offer Y300bn for Sharp — about half the value of the offer it has now made.

苦苦挣扎中的电子集团夏普(Sharp)已成为台湾鸿海精密(Hon Hai Precision Industry)和日本一家国资控股基金之间一场竞购战的对象。

知情人士周四表示，又名富士康(Foxconn)的鸿海报价6000亿日元（约合51亿美元）收购夏普。他们表示，国资控股的日本产业革新机构(INCJ)也给出报价，这表明日本政府对夏普的技术可能落入外国人之手感到担忧。

鸿海竞购的消息被《华尔街日报》(WSJ)报道之后，夏普股价一度大涨23%，下午接近收盘时在东京的涨幅为6.6%，令该公司市值达到2338亿日元。本周早些时候，日本媒体便对日本产业革新机构报价竞标之事做了报道。

在报出截至2015年底的12个月内净亏损达2220亿日元的消息后，夏普对外界提出了警告，称自己维持经营的能力出现了“重大的不确定性”。

2013年，韩国三星电子(Samsung Electronics)斥资1.11亿美元收购了夏普3%的股权，此举据认为目的在于帮助一家有用的零部件供应商维持经营。

但是，三星从未表示出彻底收购夏普的兴趣，而长期以来一直流传着鸿海打算收购夏普的消息。2012年，鸿海董事长郭台铭(Terry Gou)通过一家个人投资工具，收购了夏普旗下液晶面板生产线工厂38%的股权。

去年12月，郭台铭对台湾官方通讯社表示，他若全面接管夏普，可在两年内让夏普扭亏，夏普股价闻讯上涨。当时有报道称，鸿海对夏普的收购报价或许为3000亿日元——约为目前报价的一半。

译者/何黎