Sony Corp to sell chemical product unit to Development Bank of Japan
22 Mar 2012
Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corp today said that it will sell a part of its chemical products and device division to state-backed Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) as part of reorganisation of its business.
Tokyo-based Sony and DBJ have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the sale of chemical businesses operated by Sony Chemical & Information Device Corp (SCID), a wholly owned unit of Sony, both firms said in a joint statement.
Sony did not reveal how much the bank would pay for the unit, which makes films used in liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels among others, but the Nikkei business daily yesterday reported that DBJ may pay Sony as much as 40 billion yen ($481 million).
SCID, which has about 3,000 employees and operations in Japan, the US, Europe and China, reported sales of 111 billion yen in 2011.
SCID manufactures chemical products, including adhesive materials such as anisotropic conductive film, optical materials such as optical elasticity resin, and magnetic devices.
It also manufactures products sold by Sony, such as optical disk media, magnetic tape, laminate substrates, FeliCa cards and medical print media.