Sony today announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell off its battery business. It has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding which confirms Sony Group’s intent to negotiate the transfer of its battery business to the Murata Group. What this basically means is that Sony is now going to hash out the finer details with Murata about the sale of its battery business before it actually dumps it.
Subject to due diligence being completed and the parties negotiating the detailed terms and conditions of this sale, both Sony and Murata are aiming to sign executive binding agreements by mid-October 2016. They hope to complete the sale by the end of March next year, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.
It’s selling the battery business that’s run by Sony Energy Devices Corporation which is Sony’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Japan. The sale will include Sony’s battery manufacturing operations in China and Singapore, the assets and personnel attached to sales and R&D sites in Japan and across the globe will go to Murata as well.
The sale is not expected to include business operations related to the sale of Sony-branded USB batteries, button and coin batteries, USB batteries, and mobile projects along with some additional products.
Sony CEO Kaz Hirai’s initiative of purging Sony of divisions that are not performing well is not a secret and this sale fits in with that vision. Sony was certainly an iconic player in the global battery market with its biggest achievement being the launch of the first ever commercialized lithium ion battery back in 1991.