Why Hisense chose to buy loss-making Toshiba?

Wen ︱ Mudslide

Haisin Electric announced on November 14, said Hisense Electric on the same day with Toshiba Corporation *** with the signing of the "Agreement on the Transfer of Equity in Toshiba Visual Solutions Corporation", intends to use its own funds of 12.916 billion yen (about 798 million yuan) to be transferred to the Toshiba holds 95% of the equity interests in TVS Corporation, with Toshiba retaining 5% of the equity interests. After the completion of this equity transfer, TVS will become a controlling subsidiary of Hisense Electric (TVS is mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of TV sets and related peripherals, commercial displays, HomeIOT and other multimedia products, and cloud services), and Hisense will be authorized to acquire Toshiba's TVs for 40 years of global branding.

Haisin Electric said the acquisition will further expand the company's R & D in the TV business, brand and marketing of the global layout, through the integration of the two sides of the R & D, supply chain and global channel resources, and in the display technology of each other's strengths, each other's strengths, you can provide the world with competitive intelligent TV content operation services, to comprehensively enhance the company's global influence and comprehensive competitiveness, accelerate the The internationalization process is of great significance to the long-term development of the Company.

Toshiba has cut its workforce and begun to reorganize its business in the past two years due to a failed investment in its nuclear power business and a financial fraud scandal. Moreover, Toshiba's financial problems are so serious that it must reverse its insolvency by the end of March 2018 or be forced to delist, according to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company has sold off non-core businesses such as TVs, white goods (electrical products that can replace people's household chores) and medical devices, and is devoting its operating resources to key business areas such as social infrastructure, energy, electronic components and ICT solutions.

Toshiba was the first Japanese company to launch a color TV, and TVs used to be its main product. But under the impact of Chinese and Korean brands, the market performance of Japanese home appliance brands is declining, and Toshiba's TV business is also deteriorating. after 2015, Toshiba has changed its overseas TV business to a brand licensing model, focusing on local development and sales in Japan. The sale of TVS company means that Toshiba fully withdrew from the TV market.

While Toshiba is in deep crisis, data shows that Toshiba TV sales still ranked among the top three in the Japanese market in 2016. The acquisition of TVS Corp. will help Hisense increase its presence in the Japanese TV market, and will be good for Hisense's brand image at home and overseas.

Some industry insiders pointed out that Hisense Electric's acquisition of Toshiba TV may be to enter the OLED TV field.

Haisin has good technology accumulation in the field of laser TV, ULED TV and smart TV, but there is no advantage in the gradual rise of OLED TV and QLED TV two fields. Toshiba's unique OLED image quality engine technology, super resolution technology in the Japanese TV industry ranked first, its high-end OLED TV in the international market is very popular, is expected to strengthen Hisense's technical strength in this area.

Liu Hongxin, president of Hisense Group and chairman of Hisense Electric, also said, "After the acquisition, Hisense will integrate the two sides' research and development, supply chain and global channel resources to rapidly increase market scale and accelerate the internationalization process."

However, some people have expressed concern about the acquisition, saying that Hisense's purchase of Toshiba TVs is similar to its purchase of Sharp's Mexican factory. Both deals involved acquiring a piece of business and the right to use a trademark for a number of years from an international company in financial crisis.

Sharp's Mexican plant was sold to Hisense in 2015 for $23.7 million due to the financial crisis, and the five-year trademark rights for Sharp's LCD TVs in the North American market were given to Hisense, with the two sides agreeing that the rights would be valid until Jan. 5, 2021, the company said.

But Sharp was acquired by Foxconn and immediately sued Hisense Group in the U.S. after surviving a financial crisis, arguing that Hisense had breached its contract by selling low-quality goods and demanding that it recover its right to use the trademark in North America. Sharp also cut off Hisense Group's panel supply. This overseas lawsuit between Hisense Group and Sharp is still ongoing.

Affected by the news, Hisense Electric opened higher today, touching 16.26 yuan at its peak, then weakened, and eventually edged up 0.45 percent

Related stocks: Hisense Electric (SH.600060)