The debt-ridden BPL Ltd has finally decided to float a 50:50 JV with $21 billion Sanyo Electric Corporation.
The company is scheduled to finalise this at a board of directors meeting on Tuesday, July 27, 2004.
In a statement, the company said: "A meeting of the board of the company is convened on July 27, 2004 to consider and approve transfer of CTV business / undertaking to a 50:50 joint venture of the company with Sanyo Electric Company Ltd, Japan, and to invest in the equity share capital of the joint venture company subject to necessary approvals including shareholders and regulatory authorities and authorise the execution of appropriate agreements in that regard."
The deal culminates in what has been a long and protracted negotiations between the two consumer electronics companies.
Sanyo has been a technology partner with BPL for the past two decades and the new JV will initially focus solely on the colour TV business.
It is expected that BPL's two CTV factories at Noida and Bangalore will be shifted under the management of this new company and the entire distribution, marketing of CTVs will be handled from this entity.
The valuation of this deal is not clear as of yet but it is estimated that it will be in the range of Rs 150-400 crore (Rs 1,500-4,000 million).