TOKYO (AP) -- Panasonic has cleared a final obstacle to taking over Sanyo Electric Co. after Goldman Sachs accepted its latest offer to buy the financial firm's stake in Sanyo, a Japanese business newspaper reported Thursday.
Both Panasonic and Goldman declined to comment on the report.
Panasonic announced its intentions last month to acquire Sanyo, which would create an electronics giant, and Panasonic has been trying to buy stakes from Sanyo's top three shareholders, including Goldman. Goldman has rejected Panasonic's two earlier offers as too low. The other two -- Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. -- already indicated acceptance.
A breakthrough came Wednesday, when Goldman accepted Panasonic's third offer raised to 131 yen per share for Sanyo, the Nikkei business newspaper reported. That, however, is still below Sanyo's market price.
Sanyo shares were down 4.9 percent at 136 Thursday morning. Panasonic traded at 1,034 yen, up 0.78 percent.
Panasonic initially offered to buy Sanyo's stake at 120 yen per share -- a condition rejected by all three -- then raised it to 130 yen earlier this month.
With Goldman taking the offer, Panasonic now has consent from all top three investors and can acquire Sanyo through tender offer as early as February, the Nikkei said, estimating the purchase price at 560 billion yen ($6.36 billion). Panasonic and Sanyo will officially announce the deal Friday after endorsement by Panasonic's executive meeting, the newspaper said.
Panasonic spokesman Akira Kadota declined to comment, saying the report was not based on an official company announcement. Goldman spokeswoman Miyako Takebe also declined to comment.
Goldman owns preferred shares that can be converted to 29 percent of outstanding shares. The three top investors together control about 70 percent of Sanyo's shares.
Panasonic and Sanyo last month said they were starting talks on a buyout deal they hoped to complete by year-end. Panasonic has said it wants to turn Sanyo into a group company by acquiring 50 percent to all of its shares.
Sanyo, founded by a brother-in-law of Panasonic founder Konosuke Matsushita, is a popular brand but has been seen as a relative loser in Japan's competitive electronics sector.
In 2006, Goldman, Daiwa, and Sumitomo Mitsui rescued struggling Sanyo with a 300 billion yen bailout. Daiwa also received preferred shares that can be converted to 29 percent of outstanding shares, while Sumitomo Mitsui has a 12.3 percent stake.