Sanyo Electric to Create New International Business Group Mar 12, 2004

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Japan-based Sanyo Electric Co. announced it will create a new business group to oversee its international operations. The International Business Group will be added to the company's four existing business groups: consumer, commercial, component, and services.

Sanyo will have a total of 450 business units reporting to the five business groups and other headquarters divisions, up from the current 294 business units, it said.

As part of its efforts to become profitable in its struggling home electronics appliance business, Sanyo will create a new in-house company, HA ASEAN Company, which will fall under the Consumer Business Group.

HA ASEAN Company will seek to boost sales of its home appliance products in Southeast Asia, particularly refrigerators and washing machines in Vietnam and Indonesia. The in-house company will also promote localization of research and development operations.

Sanyo also said it will set up a subsidiary in the United Arab Emirates to strengthen its product design and sales operations to match consumer needs in the Middle-East and Central Asia.

The new entity, Sanyo Gulf, will be capitalized at U.S. $1 million and will target sales of 18 billion yen (approx. U.S. $161 million) in the next fiscal year starting in April, Sanyo said.

Sanyo also said its president and COO Yukinori Kuwano will also assume the role of chief executive officer from April. The Japanese consumer electronics maker's current chairman and CEO Satoshi Iue will retain the chairman post. (Dow Jones)

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