OSAKA, Nov. 4, 2009 (Kyodo News International) -- Panasonic Corp. (NYSE:PC) launched a tender offer Thursday for shares of Sanyo Electric Co. (OOTC:SANYY) , aiming to acquire more than 50 percent of the electronics maker's shares and convert it into a subsidiary.

Panasonic offers 131 yen per Sanyo share, compared with 216 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, and individual investors are expected to largely refrain from selling their shares.

But the tender offer, lasting until Dec. 7, is expected to be successful as Goldman Sachs group (NYSE:GS) of the United States and two other major Sanyo shareholders, which have more than 50 percent of Sanyo's total outstanding shares, have agreed to sell their shares to Panasonic at the offered price.

Panasonic is expected to complete the procedures to turn Sanyo into a subsidiary in December, about a year after it announced the plan to do so through a tender offer.

The tender offer came more than half a year behind schedule as competition policy watchdogs in countries where Panasonic and Sanyo operate have taken time to examine whether the integration would run counter to antitrust rules.

The integration is expected to boost Panasonic's share of the world battery market. In late October, Sanyo released a plan to sell some of its battery operations to clear concerns about antitrust problems.

The United States is expected to soon become the last country to approve the integration, following China, which gave its approval late last month.

The combined group sales of Panasonic and Sanyo came to 9.54 trillion yen for the business year ended in March, close to the level of the largest Japanese electrical machinery maker Hitachi Ltd.'s 10 trillion yen and nearly 2 trillion above sales of Sony Corp.