Pioneer Corporation (Headquarters: Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture; President & CEO: Susumu Kotani; hereinafter “Pioneerâ€), Onkyo Corp...
Pioneer Corporation (Headquarters: Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture; President & CEO: Susumu Kotani; hereinafter “Pioneerâ€), Onkyo Corporation (Headquarters: Osaka City; President & CEO: Munenori Otsuki; hereinafter “Onkyoâ€) and Baring Private Equity Asia (Headquarters: Hong Kong, Chief Executive and Founding Partner: Jean Eric Salata; hereinafter “Baringâ€) have reached a basic agreement to commence discussions with an eye to integrating a part of Home AV business operations between Pioneer and Onkyo. Also, a portion of shares in Pioneer Home Electronics Corporation (hereinafter “PHEâ€), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pioneer, will be transferred to Baring and Onkyo. After the transfer, Baring will have 51% stake in PHE. The remaining 49% will be determined in consultation between the related parties.
Background to the basic agreement:
Home AV market is shifting from analog equipment to digital equipment, where music playback by PCs and digital audio players are getting popular, and ways to enjoy music and music playback environment have been greatly changing.
To cope with such changes of the market, Pioneer and Onkyo will make an effort to increase competitiveness by capitalizing on the resources of the two companies such as strong brand power and superior technologies. Also, the capital participation of Baring will maximize synergies including business expansion.
Both companies will retain their existing brands, and increase their corporate value.
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