Japanese consumer electronics makers Victor Co. of Japan and Funai Electric will jointly develop and supply LCD television sets, an industry source said on Tuesday.The news pushed up shares of both companies, with Funai rising nearly 8 percent at one point.
The two plan to release
Funai spokesman Naoyuki Takanaka said his firm was in talks with JVC on a possible alliance but nothing had been decided. JVC spokesman Toshiya Ogata said nothing had been set.
Funai sells a large portion of its products in the United States through Wal-Mart Stores under the Emerson brand. Business with the U.S. retail giant accounts for roughly one-third of Funai's total sales.
JVC is set to integrate with Kenwood after Kenwood and asset manager Sparx Group in August acquired a combined 30 percent stake in JVC, taking the loss-making unit off the consolidated accounts of Matsushita Electric Industrial.
Among other partnerships in
Panasonic maker Matsushita plans to take a majority stake in an LCD-making joint venture with Hitachi, and
JVC shares ended the morning session up 5.3 percent at 180 yen and Funai rose 5.9 percent to 4,110 yen, both outperforming a 1.8 percent gain in the benchmark Nikkei average.
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