Automobile company, Mitsubishi Corp, an autcompany headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, is considering buying up Shinko Electric Industries, a packaging unit of Fujitsu’s chip.
The Multinational automobile manufacturer, sixth-largest Japanese automaker, and 19th-largest worldwide by production has since October 2016, been one-third (34%) owned by Nissan.
Mitsubishi, owned 8.3% by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has set up a team to explore the possibility of entering the so-called back-end manufacturing process, which involves mounting chips on frames, connecting wires and packaging.
Fujitsu has put its 50% stake, worth around $2.6 billion at current market prices in Shinko Electric.
Global buyout firms such as Bain Capital, KKR, Apollo Global Management as well as government-backed Japan Investment Corp have also shown interest but according to sources, Mitsubishi is planning to make a joint bid with one of the potential buyers.
A spokesperson for Mitsubishi said the trading house had set up a division in June to deal with chips and materials and were looking into various opportunities while a Fujitsu spokesperson said it was true that the company is considering various options to maximise the value of the independent business, but nothing had been decided yet.
