Hitachi to buy Clarion for up to USD 465 mln

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Japan's Hitachi Ltd said it would spend up to USD 465 million to acquire car electronics maker Clarion Co Ltd at a 52% premium, part of a drive to boost its automotive equipment sales, reports Reuters.

Hitachi, Japan's largest electronics conglomerate and already Clarion's top shareholder with a 14% stake, said it would launch a tender offer from October 25 paying 230 yen per share, compared with Tuesday's closing price of 151 yen.

Hitachi said it would aim to grab just over half of Clarion's common stock, spending 23 billion yen (USD 192 million). But it has promised to acquire all shares tendered, which could raise the acquisition cost as high as 55.7 billion yen.

Hitachi President, Kazuo Furukawa told a news conference that he currently had no plans to make Clarion, one of the world's top makers of car navigation and stereo systems, into a wholly owned unit.

Furukawa said the deal would be financed with funds on hand. By the midday break, shares in Clarion were untraded due to a glut of buy orders at 201 yen, up by its daily limit of 50 yen or 33 percent. Hitachi was up 0.7 percent at 702 yen, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei average's 0.12% gain.