Sanyo, Haier to link up in fridge business

Japan's Sanyo Electric Co Ltd said on Friday it will link up with China's Haier Group in the refrigerator business in a bid to turn around its loss-making operations and will sell its Thai refrigerator plant to Haier. The two companies will set up a joint venture in Japan in December to take over Sanyo's refrigerator design and development operations.
Sanyo will also sell a 80 percent stake in its flagship refrigerator plant in Thailand, which makes about 1 million units a year, and will procure the products from Haier on an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) basis. "In the next business year, we will not post a loss from the refrigerator business any more," senior vice president Mitsuru Honma told a news conference. In OEM agreements, suppliers manufacture products under the names of re-sellers.