FACTBOX: Japan's Panasonic to acquire Sanyo Electric

TOKYO (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp said it aims to make Sanyo Electric Co Ltd its subsidiary, creating Japan's largest electronics maker.

Following are some key facts about the two companies:

* PANASONIC CORP:

Panasonic is one of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world and comprises over 556 companies. It makes and markets over 15,000 products under the Panasonic brand.

KEY FIGURES (12 months to March 31, 2008):

Sales - 9.07 trillion yen ($92.82 billion)

Pre-tax Profit - 435 billion yen

Total Assets - 7.44 trillion yen

Cash & Equivalents - 1.21 trillion yen

Employees - 305,828

HISTORY

- Founded as Matsushita Electric Devices Manufacturing Co by Konosuke Matsushita in 1918. Incorporated in 1935.

- Starting out with two new products -- an attachment plug and a two-way socket -- the company soon became famous for new products such as a bullet-shaped bicycle lamp. Matsushita, who had great enthusiasm for developing new products, kept a pencil and paper at his bedside to write down ideas that came to him while asleep. - During World War Two Panasonic lost 32 factory and office facilities in Japan, and its overseas factories and sales outlets were confiscated. - In April 1965, Panasonic became Japan's first major manufacturer to introduce a five-day work week.

* SANYO ELECTRIC:

Sanyo Electric suffered three years of losses up until March 2007 from price wars and an earthquake that damaged a microchip plant, and has been restructuring with the help of shareholder Goldman Sachs. Hit by a lackluster performance by its consumer electronics operation, Sanyo has bet its future on rechargeable batteries and solar cells, and has been intensifying investment in these businesses.

KEY FIGURES (12 months to March 31, 2008):

Net sales - 2.02 trillion yen

Pre-tax Profit - 57.2 billion yen

Total Assets - 1.68 trillion yen

Cash & Equivalents - 280.7 billion yen

Employees - 99,875

HISTORY

- Toshio Iue, brother-in-law of Panasonic founder Matsushita, established Sanyo Electric in 1947, starting off with a plan to produce dynamo-powered bicycle lamps.

- The company was incorporated in 1950.

- It began exports in 1949, supplying 5,000 bicycle generator lamps ordered by the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces.

- Sanyo launched Japan's first pulsator-type washing machine in 1953, helping trigger the country's consumer electronics boom.

- Sanyo developed the world's first lithium batteries in 1975. Now it has the biggest global share of lithium-ion batteries used in personal computers and mobile phones.

- It has 245 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide.

Sources: Reuters; panasonic.net; www.sanyo.com

($1=97.71 Yen)

(Writing by Jijo Jacob; Editing by Michael Watson)