Chinese-Taiwanese Group to Gain Control Over Japan Display in $2.1 Billion Bailout [Report]

A Chinese-Taiwanese group is set to take control over Japan Display in a $2.1 billion bailout, reports Reuters. This comes after publicly funded bailouts failed to help the panel maker reduce its dependence on Apple.

Over the last four years, Apple has accounted for more than half of the company's revenue. With the move to OLED displays, Japan Display's new factory that makes LCD panels was left running at half capacity. To make matters worse, sales of the iPhone XR, the only current generation iPhone with an LCD, have been disappointing.

To save the company, a deal has been reached with Taiwanese flat screen maker TPK Holding and Chinese investment firm Harvest Group. They will inject up to 80 billion yen in Japan Display by buying shares and bonds. This will give the buyers a 49.8% stake in the company, replacing the Japanese government backed INCJ fund as the largest shareholder.


INCJ will also join the bailout by accepting a debt-to-preferred equity swap totaling 75 billion yen and extending senior loans worth 77 billion yen. After the deal its stake will fall to 12.7 percent from 25.3 percent.

Despite their efforts, the Japanese government has been unable to keep its last domestic display maker out of foreign hands. There is a possibility that the deal could be subject to a U.S. national security review; however, Japan Display’s finance division head Minoru Kikuoka believes a filing with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is not necessary.

As part of the deal, Japan Display and Harvest Tech are planning to jointly produce OLED panels.

More details in the full report linked below!


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