Hitachi to Launch Tender Offers for Five Listed Units

Hitachi Ltd. said Tuesday that it will spend 273 billion yen ($2.8 billion) to launch tender offers for five of its listed units, turning them into wholly-owned subsidiaries by March 2010 , Wall Street Journal reports.

Photo: Hitachi to Launch Tender Offers for Five Listed Units

Hitachi to Launch Tender Offers for Five Listed Units

Meanwhile, Hitachi Ltd. offered to buy out Hitachi Maxel Ltd. and four other publicly traded subsidiaries and affiliates for 282.2 billion yen ($3 billion) to help speed up business decisions and reduce overlapping costs.

The company will also acquire outstanding shares of Hitachi Software Engineering Co. , Hitachi Information Systems Ltd. , Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd. and Hitachi Systems & Services Ltd. , according to statements to the Tokyo Stock Exchange today, Bloomberg reports.

However, the forecast misses the consensus average for a 246 billion yen loss by 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Hitachi also confirmed previous reports that it would seek to buy out five subsidiaries which it currently only partly owns, MarketWatch reports.