Pioneer has signed a formal contract with Sharp to form a joint venture for the optical disk business.

Announcement (April 9, 2009):

Pioneer has signed a partnership agreement with Sharp to form a joint venture for the optical disk business.

The optical disk businesses of both Sharp and Pioneer will be transferred to the new joint venture. The venture is expected to start operations by around October 1, 2009. The new company will be engaged in the development, design, manufacture and sales of optical disk products, focusing on optical disk drives, recorders and players.

Deal Type    Partnership
Sub-Category Joint Venture
Deal Status  Completed: 2009-11-11

Deal Participants

Partner 1 (Company) Pioneer Corporation
Partner 2 (Company) Sharp Corporation

Deal Rationale

The integration of the technological expertise of Pioneer and Sharp in the areas of optical pick-up heads, optical disk drives, and system design will make their joint optical disk business stronger, and their cooperative relationship will serve to enhance the market competitiveness of both company's audio-visual businesses.

Each TOUCH WOOD handset features its own distinctive grain patterns and natural coloring. No artificial colors or paints are used, so the cypress retains its original natural appearance and aroma. The wood also has an attractive shine that is created during the compression process.

The TOUCH WOOD is made from the surplus wood of trees culled during forest-thinning operations. This new commercial use for thinned wood, which traditionally has only limited applications, helps to preserve other wood resources while strengthening the health of overgrown forests. So far, TOUCH WOOD production has used wood culled from the Shimanto forest in Japan's Kochi Prefecture. The forest is managed by the more trees project.

The prototype phone's graphical user interface (GUI) is based on the photographic art of Mikiya Takimoto, a more trees advocate.

A mockup of the TOUCH WOOD handset will be exhibited at ITU Telecom World 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland from October 5 to 9 and CEATEC JAPAN 2009 at Makuhari Messe, Chiba Prefecture, Japan from October 6 to 10.

About NTT DOCOMO

NTT DOCOMO is the world's leading mobile operator and provider of advanced mobile services. The company serves over 54 million customers in Japan, including 48 million using i-mode, the world's most popular mobile e-mail/Internet platform, and 49 million using FOMA, the world's original 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA. As a leader in the development of cutting-edge mobile technologies, DOCOMO is continually expanding the role of mobile phones as versatile and highly personalized "lifestyle tools" for everyday life, including with a wide range of innovative services for mobile payments, GPS, mobile TV, multimedia content and much more. NTT DOCOMO is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM) and New York (DCM) stock exchanges. For more information, visit www.nttdocomo.com

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The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) has approved the deal recently, and Nanjing Panda Electronics Group Co., Ltd. will hold 334,715 million shares in the subsidiary, taking 51.1% of the total.

Notably, the subsidiary signed three agreements about the venture's establishment, the 6G LCD panel production line, and the LCD R&D center with Sharp Corporation on August 31, 2009.

Source: www.163.com (September 08, 2009)