OSAKA – Sharp Corp. has completed its acquisition of Toshiba Corp.'s personal computer business, marking a return to the PC business after pulling out eight years ago. Aiming to nurture the PC operation as a new revenue source, Sharp will take over Toshiba's high-profile Dynabook brand and adopt the business reconstruction methods of its Taiwanese parent, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Based on an agreement in June, Sharp acquired an 80.1 percent stake in Toshiba Client Solutions Co., a fully owned PC unit of Toshiba, for about ¥4 billion. Yoshihisa Ishida, executive vice president of Sharp, took up the post as chairman of Toshiba Client on Monday, the day the acquisition was completed. Until 2000, Toshiba held the largest share of the laptop market.

The deal, disclosed by the companies Tuesday, highlights a contrast between the two electronics makers, both of which faced multibillion-dollar losses and management turmoil several years ago. Sharp has managed to turn itself around quickly under foreign management while Toshiba, which received more support from the Japanese government during its restructuring, is still trying to streamline its unprofitable portfolio. Toshiba's laptop PCs, sold under the Dynabook name, helped make the conglomerate famous among consumers outside Japan, but the business has lost money for the past five years and was at the center of a profit-padding scandal that the company disclosed in 2015. That scandal and the bankruptcy last year of Toshiba's U.S. nuclear subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric Co., have pushed Toshiba to shed many of its money-losing consumer businesses as well as more profitable units to raise funds. It has sold its television and appliance businesses to Chinese companies and its medical-equipment business to Canon Inc.

Sharp Corp. announced Tuesday it will acquire Toshiba Corp.'s once-signature personal computer business in a bid to make a comeback in the PC market. Sharp, controlled by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., will pay ¥4 billion for an 80.1 percent stake in Toshiba Client Solutions Co., a PC-related subsidiary of Toshiba that once held the biggest share of the global laptop market but has since lost out to overseas rivals. The stock transfer is planned for Oct. 1. Sharp also announced it will issue new shares worth up to ¥200 billion to buy back preferred shares from banks, seeking to quickly improve its financial status. Sharp aims to turn Toshiba's money-losing business into a new profit-driver by exploiting its liquid crystal display production and the manufacturing know-how of parent Hon Hai.

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