Company officials say the presidents of Japanese electronics rivals Panasonic and Sanyo have scheduled a news conference about the companies' moves toward a possible merger, the Associated Press reported.
Speculation has been rife Panasonic Corp. is interested in buying its smaller rival Sanyo Electric Co. But it's
unlikely that a completed deal has been reached yet with Sanyo's biggest stakeholders, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Of the U.S. and Japanese banks Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Daiwa Securities SMBC.
The companies invested 300 billion yen ($3 billion) in Sanyo in 2006, and hold about a combined 70 percent stake in Sanyo.
Adding Sanyo to Panasonic would create Japan's biggest electronics maker, surpassing Hitachi Ltd.