Japan Display Loses Chinese Investment: report
Chinese investment firm Harvest Group will not provide any financial aid to Apple supplier Japan Display, the Nikkei said on Thursday.
The display maker is tapping a consortium led by Harvest for an 80 billion yen ($740 million) bailout deal, which includes investments from Apple and Hong Kong-based activist investor Oasis Management.
Japan Display declined to comment.
Harvest was expected to contribute 60 billion yen, the Nikkei reported, citing sources familiar with the negotiation.
Japan Display has failed to come up with a restructuring plan, and Harvest’s decision is likely to worsen the situation for the display maker.
Update: Japan Display confirmed that Chinese investment firm Harvest Group would withdraw from a bailout of the cash-strapped smartphone screen maker, increasing the chance of the 80 billion yen ($743 million) deal collapsing.
The pullout of Harvest, which had offered to inject three quarters of the bailout, threatens the survival of Japan Display, which has been hit by Apple’s slowing iPhone sales and a late shift to organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens.
Minoru Kikuoka, Japan Display’s chief financial officer, said at a press briefing there were no worries about an immediate cash crunch, thanks to loans extended by Japanese government-backed fund INCJ, its biggest shareholder.
Harvest decided to pull out due to disagreements with other members of the investor group over governance, Japan Display said. The Japanese company will look for new investors to replace the Chinese fund while keeping up talks with Harvest with the aim of receiving promised investment, it added.
Apple accounted for 60.6% of Japan Display’s revenue in the last financial year ended March. Japan Display still owes Apple nearly $900 million for the $1.5 billion cost of building a smartphone screen plant four years ago.
Japan Display in August reported a tenth consecutive quarterly loss and logged a negative net worth, with liabilities exceeding assets by 77.2 billion yen.
Japan Display was formed in 2012 by combining the liquid-crystal display businesses of Hitachi Ltd, Toshiba Corp and Sony Corp in a government-brokered deal.