Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Hitachi Ltd said on Tuesday they would delay the start of a commercial-use air-conditioner joint venture but that their agreement on merging operations remained intact. Mitsubishi and Hitachi originally planned to set up the new firm, which would combine their industrial-use air-conditioner and refrigerator operations, on April 1 in an effort to cut costs and bring together their technological expertise.
But it has taken more time than expected to sort out and rearrange their existing distribution networks and to conduct other merger-related tasks, a Hitachi spokesman said.
It was not clear when the venture would be established, but the delay would not be longer than a year, the spokesman said.
Prior to the announcement, shares in Hitachi, Japan's largest electronics conglomerate, fell 2.37 percent to close at 660 yen, while Mitsubishi Heavy, the nation's biggest heavy machinery maker, lost 1.72 percent to 286 yen.
The benchmark Nikkei share average was down 1.63 percent.
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