Videocon Industries' appetite for South Korean companies seems to be growing daily.
Barely a fortnight after signing a deal to acquire Daewoo Electronics, the Indian consumer goods company is in talks with Seoul-based LG.Phillips LCD Co for a strategic alliance.
A Videocon executive confirmed that talks were on but did not divulge further details. LG.Philips operates seven fabrication facilities in South Korea and has around 21,000 employees globally.
Investment banking sources said Videocon was deliberating between acquiring part of the LG.Philips business and taking over a one-third stake in the company held by Royal Philips Electronics NV.
The sources said Videcon would have to wait till mid-2007 to acquire the Dutch major's stake because Royal Philips Electronics was bound to keep its stake in LG.Philips to at least 30 per cent till then.
Royal Philips Electronics had made it clear it regarded its interest in LG.Philips as a non-core investment, which would be sold over time. It had agreed with LG to keep its stake in the joint venture to at least 30 per cent till three years after the company went public in mid-2004. LG has a stake of nearly 38 per cent.
The market value of Royal Philips Electronics' 33 per cent stake in LG.Philips, which was transformed into an equal joint venture between Royal Philips Electronics and LG Electronics seven years ago, is pegged at around $ 4 billion. "It will take a few months for a deal to happen," said a source close to the development.
Videocon recently signed an agreement to acquire Daewoo Electronics for $730 million. Last year, it took over the picture tube business of Thomson and the Indian operations of Electrolux SA.
Japan's Sharp Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co are learnt to have shown interest in acquiring Royal Philips Electronics' stake, which the Dutch company had been wanting to sell for some time.
LG.Philips LCD, though a global leader in the manufacture of thin film transistor liquid crystal display panels, has been bleeding for some time due to a drastic fall in panel prices.
