TOKYO (Reuters) – Panasonic Corp will buy American supply chain software company Blue Yonder for 700 billion yen ($ 6.45 billion), the Japanese electronics company’s largest acquisition since 2011, Nikkei said on Monday. -market.
Panasonic, which bought a 20% stake in Blue Yonder for 86 billion yen last year, is in the final stages of acquiring the rest of the shareholders’ shares, including Blackstone Group Inc, Nikkei said, without saying where it got it from. The informations.
“This is not something that was announced by our company. It is not true that it is something that we have decided on, ”said Panasonic in an emailed statement.
An acquisition would bolster Panasonic’s supply chain management services, as the COVID-19 pandemic focuses companies’ attention on their resilience to disruptions.
Best known for its electronics and appliances, Panasonic in recent years has focused more on building parts and providing services to other companies, such as batteries for electric cars from Tesla Inc.
Any deal to acquire the entire Blue Yonder would be Panasonic’s largest, as it spent 800 billion yen to make Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works wholly owned subsidiaries in 2011, Nikkei said.
The money from the acquisition is likely to come from Panasonic’s own funds, although loans or other financing may also be considered for the purchase, the report said.
The Japanese company deepened its partnership with Blue Yonder in May, winning a seat on its board after acquiring a minority stake. The American company uses machine learning to help companies manage supply chains that connect factories to warehouses and retailers.
Blue Yonder has companies like Walmart Inc, Starbucks Corp and Unilever PLC among its customers.
($ 1 = 108.4900 yen)
Reporting by Takashi Umekawa and Tim Kelly. Editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter