Japan's Sharp accepts bailout from Foxconn parent

Japan's Sharp accepts bailout from Foxconn parent

Embattled electronics giant Sharp has accepted a multi-billion-dollar bailout from the parent company of Taiwan's Foxconn, local media reported Thursday, in what would be a rare foreign takeover of a Japanese firm.

The deal, which could be worth as much as $6.2 billion, was unanimously agreed at a Sharp board meeting Thursday, Japanese media including the leading Nikkei business daily reported.

Neither firm has so far issued a public comment. A Sharp spokesman declined to comment.

Sharp's volatile stock soared nearly six per cent on the reports, which come after weeks of speculation over whether it would chose an offer from a domestic investment fund or Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision, a major Apple supplier.

Media have suggested the Taiwanese firm's offer would keep Sharp intact, while it would be broken up under a rival bid from the public-private Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ).

Century-old Sharp - which is also supplies smartphone and tablet screens to Apple - has teetered on the edge of bankruptcy for years, piling up eye-watering losses and struggling through a restructuring plan that has yet to pull it out of the red.

This month, the firm posted a whopping nine-month net loss of more than $900 million, hit by restructuring costs and a slump in demand for its smartphone screens.

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