Panasonic said in talks to buy Sanyo Electric

Sat Nov 1, 2008 3:05am GMT

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese electronics maker Panasonic (6752.T) is in talks with Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and two other major shareholders of Sanyo Electric (6764.T) to buy a controlling stake in its smaller rival, company and financial sources said on Saturday.

Sanyo's three main shareholders are Daiwa Securities SMBC, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and Goldman Sachs.

The combined entity would be Japan's largest electronics maker in revenue terms, surpassing Hitachi (6501.T).

Daiwa Securities SMBC is a joint venture between Daiwa Securities Group (8601.T) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) (8316.T), while Sumitomo Mitsui Banking is Sanyo's main bank and an SMFG unit.

(Reporting by Taro Fuse and Kentaro Hamada; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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