Foxconn Proposes Detailed Offer for Sharp

Sharp

Taiwan's Foxconn has made a detailed offer to buy Sharp including a promise to not cut jobs, challenging an offer by a Japanese government-backed fund, a person with direct knowledge of the talks said on Tuesday.

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, previously offered over 600 billion yen for Sharp but the Japanese company and its lenders had not taken the offer too seriously as it lacked a detailed restructuring plan, other people with knowledge of the matter had said last week.

But Foxconn has since submitted more specific proposals, and Chairman Terry Gou met with Japanese government officials on Tuesday to discuss the matter, the source said, declining to be named as the information remained confidential.

Sharp declined to comment. Executive at Foxconn were not immediately available to comment.

(Reporting by Taro Fuse; Additional reporting by JR Wu in Taipei; Writing by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Miral Fahmy)