China's Midea Group and Toshiba on Wednesday announced that they have agreed to transfer Toshiba's home appliances business to Midea. According to the joint statement, Midea will acquire an 80.1% stake in Toshiba Lifestyle Products & Services Corporation, or TLSC, while Toshiba will retain a 19.9% shareholding. The deal costs Midea a total of 3.1 billion yuan (nearly 470 million USD).

According to the statement, the agreement gives Midea a 40-year license to use the Toshiba brand on home appliances.

After the acquisition, the home appliances arm of Toshiba will continue to develop, manufacture and market white goods, such as refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and other small domestic appliances, under the Toshiba brand name. And Midea will receive more than 5,000 intellectual property assets and a license to use other home appliance related intellectual properties retained by Toshiba.