Sanyo, Haier Agree on Inclusive Collaboration

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 09, 2002

Sanyo, Haier Agree on Inclusive Collaboration

Japan's Sanyo Electric Co. and China's Haier Group Company (Haier) have signed a wide-ranging business tie-up agreement to market consumer electronic products in both countries, according to reports reaching Tuesday in Tokyo.

It is the first time that Japanese and Chinese electronics companies have agreed on an inclusive collaboration, the Osaka-based Sanyo said on Tuesday.

Under the agreement, Sanyo's products will be sold in China through Haier's sales network under Sanyo and Haier brand names, while sales of Haier's products in Japan will be promoted by a joint venture to be set up by the two companies, according to the reports.

The new company, to be called Sanyo-Haier Co., will be established next month with a capital of 500 million yen (3.78 million U.S. dollars). Sanyo will owned 60 percent and Haier 40 percent, reports said.

The company will start operations in April, and initially sell Haier's refrigerators, freezers and washing machines.

It is the first time that a Japanese electronics company has set up a firm in Japan to promote Chinese products, Japan's Kyodo News quoted Sanyo as saying.

The two companies will also build a compressor factory using Sanyo's technologies next to Haier's refrigerator factory in Qingdao.

Production will begin in December this year with an initial production target of one million units annually.

Haier, set up in 1991, is China's largest home appliance manufacturer with a workforce of 30,000.