Kyocera has reached a definitive agreement with SANYO to acquire SANYO's mobile phone business. The agreement was approved by both companies' boards of directors today and is planned to become effective April 1, 2008.

Under the agreement, Kyocera acquires a comprehensive set of assets from SANYO relating to the research, development, design, materials procurement, manufacture, sales and marketing of CDMA handsets; PHS handsets; PHS base stations; and wireless communications systems; as well as a range of related technologies, intellectual property and patents.

"This transaction will yield great synergies and economies of scale in areas such as technology portfolios, R&D, procurement, design, marketing and sales," said Makoto Kawamura, president of Kyocera Corporation, the group's global parent. "Furthermore, the Kyocera and SANYO product portfolios are highly complementary, and will allow us to offer a broader lineup of handsets and data devices to all of our carrier customers."

To ensure a smooth transition in the market, Kyocera plans to offer both Kyocera- and SANYO-branded products in Japan and abroad for the foreseeable future. Kyocera also plans to offer continued employment to all affected SANYO employees, totaling approximately 2,000 workers.

In North America, the acquisition will result in the creation of a new wholly-owned Kyocera subsidiary on April 1, 2008 that will assume the operations of the U.S.-based SANYO business units and will commence operations separate from San Diego-based Kyocera Wireless Corp., in order to maintain immediate continuity with its existing distribution network.