Samsung Unloads Stake in Japan's Sharp

TOKYO—South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. sold its stake in Japan's Sharp Corp. earlier this month, a person familiar with the matter said, as the conglomerate restructures its portfolio.

The Korean technology major incurred a small loss from the sale of its stake in the Osaka-based electronics company, the person said Thursday. In 2013, Samsung had snapped up a roughly 3% stake in Sharp for ¥ 10.3 billion ($101 million).

The sale stemmed from Samsung's recent decision to sell its printer unit to U.S.-based HP Inc., the person said, because the aim of the investment had been to gain Sharp's expertise in copier technology, particularly its patents, to expand that business. Such intellectual property is crucial to survival in the industry, where market leaders cross-license their patents to keep competition in check.

Samsung's hopes of gaining Sharp's copier technology were stymied by other industry leaders that tried to block the South Korean company's entry into the market, the person said.

The decision to sell the stake was also influenced by the completion of Foxconn Technology Group's acquisition of Sharp last month, the person said. Taiwan's Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is Samsung rival Apple Inc.'s main assembler of iPhones. Foxconn also assembles consumer electronics for Samsung and other companies.

A Sharp spokesman Thursday said "we are not in a position to make any comments on this matter." A representative of Samsung's Japanese office, which the company used to sell the equity, wasn't immediately available for comment.

Write to Takashi Mochizuki at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 15, 2016 06:25 ET (10:25 GMT)

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