Panasonic's attempt to acquire Sanyo (minus mobile phone handset division, which was already sold to Kyocera) continues.

After Pana's intention was announced, Goldman Sachs, one of Sanyo's investors, declined their offer. This week, Pana raised the offer price to 130 yen per share, but Goldman again declined it today, citing that Sanyo's current share price is 169 yen as of Wednesday. Nikkei reports that Pana can gather more than 51% without Goldman's accord, so Pana is heading that direction.

Panasonic and Sanyo are not only neighbors - their headquarters in Osaka are less than 2km apart - but also Sanyo's founder used to work closely with Pana's founder Konosuke Matsushita.

Pana's main strategic motivation of this acquisition is reported as Sanyo's solar battery division, which has the top level market share in the world. It is important in their energy and environment strategy.

So the combination is in many ways natural, so I believe that sooner or later, it will go through.

People in Osaka is historically known for the city of merchants, and Pana is known as a savvy merchant. I imagine they know what they are doing.

Michi Kaifu