Foxconn chairman to meet Sharp executives to close partnership deal, say market watchers

Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) chairman Terry Guo reportedly will have a meeting with Sharp's executives in Japan soon to finalize the two firms' partnership, according to market watchers familiar with the situation.

Guo originally planned the meeting on March 5, but due to Sharp's announcement of Samsung's investment, it was postponed to a later time.

The market watchers believe Guo's participation in the meeting indicates that negotiations between the two firms should be close to reaching an end.

Due to banks in Japan still favoring the idea of Foxconn gaining control in Sharp's operations, Guo originally intended to use the advantage to achieve a favorable result for Foxconn, but with Samsung's involvement the market watchers now believe Guo may need to give some concessions to Sharp.

Prior to Samsung, Qualcomm invested US$121 million in Sharp to acquire 5% of the Japan player's shareholdings and the company will also make a second investment in Sharp this month (March 2013).