シャープ再建 サムスンの出資に頼る苦渋策

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Mar. 9, 2013)
Sharp must accelerate rehab efforts with capital tie-up with Samsung
シャープ再建　サムスンの出資に頼る苦渋策（3月8日付・読売社説）

Sharp Corp., which has been in corporate rehabilitation, now aims to ensure its survival through a capital tie-up with longtime rival Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea.
　経営再建中のシャープが、長年のライバル、韓国サムスン電子との資本提携で生き残りを目指すことになった。

Sharp took a step toward strengthening its financial base with the tie-up, but uncertainty still looms over the company's future. Sharp is urged to swiftly advance its management reform with the tie-up as leverage.
　財務基盤の強化へ、一歩前進だが、先行きは不透明である。提携をテコにした経営改革のスピードが問われよう。

According to the terms of their agreement, Samsung will invest 10.3 billion yen in capital and is expected to own a 3 percent stake in Sharp.
　合意によると、サムスンがシャープに１０３億円を出資し、出資比率は３％になる見通しだ。

Sharp plans to provide Samsung with liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for smartphones and television sets, regaining sales in an effort to improve earnings. Samsung, for its part, focused on the advantage of stable procurement of LCD panels.
　シャープは、サムスンにスマートフォン（高機能携帯電話）やテレビ向けの液晶パネルを供給して販売を回復し、収益力の向上を狙う。サムスンはパネルを安定調達できる利点に着目した。

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Deadlock in renegotiations

Hit by such factors as failed major investments and a sales slump in LCD panels, Sharp is expected to post a deficit for fiscal 2012, for the second business year in a row.
　過剰投資の失敗と液晶パネルの販売不振などが響き、シャープは２０１３年３月期に２期連続で巨額赤字を計上する見込みだ。

A year ago, Sharp agreed to accept capital investment from major Taiwan manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. However, renegotiations with Hon Hai, which demanded a review of the terms of the agreement, hit a deadlock, raising concern over Sharp's ability to raise operational funds.
　シャープは１年前、台湾の製造大手、鴻海(ホンハイ)精密工業から出資を受けることで合意した。しかし、条件見直しを求める鴻海との再交渉が暗礁に乗り上げ、資金繰りが不安視されていた。

With no bright prospects in its negotiations with Hon Hai, Sharp must have made the painful choice to ask Samsung for capital investment.
　交渉の展望が見えない中で、サムスンに出資を求めるという苦渋の決断を下したのだろう。

Japanese and South Korean electronics manufacturers have battled fiercely since the 1990s in such fields as semiconductors, flat-screen TVs, LCD panels and lithium-ion batteries.
　日韓の電機メーカーは１９９０年代から、半導体、薄型テレビ、液晶パネル、リチウムイオン電池などで激しく競争してきた。

At first, technologically superior Japanese firms were dominant, but in recent years Samsung and other South Korean firms have grown rapidly. Currently, the positions are reversed.
　当初は技術力に勝る日本勢が優勢だったが、近年はサムスンなどが急成長して立場が逆転した。

The rare situation of a Japanese company accepting a major investment of capital from a South Korean one symbolizes the difference in vigor between companies in the two countries.
日本企業が韓国側から出資を受け入れるという異例の事態は、勢いの差を象徴している。

The focus from now on is whether Sharp can fully utilize the benefits of the tie-up with Samsung in accelerating its corporate rehabilitation efforts.
　今後の焦点は、シャープがサムスンとの提携効果を生かし、再建を加速できるかどうかだ。

First, the company will be required to increase operation rates of factories by expanding sales routes of LCD panels and get its business into the black.
　まず、液晶パネルの販路拡大で工場の稼働率を上げ、事業を黒字化することが求められよう。

Sharp has been making small and medium-size LCD panels for smartphones and tablet computers of Apple Inc. of the United States, which entrusts Hon Hai with the production of its products.
　シャープは従来、米アップルのスマートフォン向けの中小型パネルを生産し、鴻海がアップル製品を受託製造する関係にある。

Sharp will provide small and medium-size LCDs to Samsung, which has been at loggerheads with Apple. The success or failure of this strategy, a departure from its dependence on Apple, will bear watching.
　シャープは、アップルと争うサムスンにも中小型パネルを供給することになるが、「脱アップル依存」戦略の成否が注目される。

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Prevent tech outflow

Sharp, which is obliged to redeem a huge amount of corporate bonds this autumn, still has a weak capital base. Further improvement of its financial capacity is an urgent task.
　巨額の社債償還を今秋に控えたシャープの資金基盤はまだ弱い。一層の財務改善も急務だ。

Another concern is the possibility of an overseas outflow of Sharp's state-of-art technologies. Because of the capital tie-up, we wonder if Samsung may ask Sharp to provide its technologies to the South Korean firm. Countermeasures are needed to protect the technical base of Japan's creative manufacturing.
　懸念されるのは、シャープの最先端技術の流出である。サムスンとの提携により、技術提供を要求されないか。日本のもの作りの基盤を守る対策も必要である。

Management rehabilitation is still under way at Japanese home appliance companies, including Panasonic Corp. We hope each of those companies will redouble its efforts to rise again, in line with the policy of the government, which attaches importance to strengthening industrial competitiveness.
　パナソニックなど日本の家電各社は経営立て直しの途上にある。産業競争力強化を重視する政府と歩調を合わせ、各社が巻き返し策を急いでもらいたい。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 8, 2013)
（2013年3月8日01時30分 読売新聞）