Goldman Sachs rejects Panasonic's new bid for Sanyo Electric stock

OSAKA, Dec. 4 Kyodo -
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on Thursday turned down Panasonic Corp.'s new offer to
purchase Sanyo Electric Co. shares held by the U.S. bank holding company at
around 130 yen per share, apparently because Goldman thinks the price does not
accurately reflect Sanyo's corporate value, sources close to the matter said.

Since two of the three major Sanyo shareholders -- Daiwa Securities SMBC Co.
and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. -- responded positively Wednesday to
Panasonic's new offer, the electronics giant may opt to go ahead with a tender
offer for Sanyo shares in January without Goldman's participation, industry
observers say.
Panasonic wanted to close the share trade deal with all of the three major
shareholders within this week to announce later this month a tender offer due
to start in January in a bid to turn the smaller rival into a subsidiary, the
sources said.
The new offer price is 10 yen higher than the original offer presented in late
November. Goldman wants to sell its Sanyo stock for around 250 yen per share
and Daiwa insisted that the sale price be based on the market price.
Sanyo stock closed Thursday at 148 yen per share.
If Daiwa and Sumitomo Mitsui agree to sell all their preferred Sanyo stock,
Panasonic will obtain a stake of about 41 percent in Sanyo when the preferred
stock is converted into common shares. The sale of Goldman's holdings would
boost the percentage to 70 percent.
If institutional and other shareholders accept the tender offer, Panasonic
could win a majority stake at a cost of about 400 billion yen. This, however,
is uncertain because it is not clear how many investors will accept the
below-market price, financial watchers say.
==Kyodo