Panasonic
will
pay
¥403.8bn
($4.6bn)
for
a
50.2%
stake
in
Sanyo,
in
a
deal
that
has
dragged
on
for
months
due
to
regulatory
hurdles
in
the
US,
Europe
and
China.
For
its
money,
Panasonic
is
buying
the
world’s
dominant
maker
of
lithium-ion
batteries,
and
one
of
Asia’s
largest
solar-energy
players.
Panasonic
and
Sanyo
are
decades-long
rivals
within
Japan’s
fiercely
competitive
electronics
industry.
In
recent
years
Sanyo
has
drifted
towards
the
lower
end
of
the
market,
while
at
the
higher
end
Panasonic
has
come
under
increasing
pressure
from
South
Korean
competitor
Samsung.
Several…
