The following appears on bloomberg.com
Sharp Corp.’s banks are ready to push back the deadline for most of the company’s 510 billion ($4.5 billion) in loans and credit lines beyond March 31, people with knowledge of the matter said, giving the electronics maker more time to reach a renegotiated deal to be acquired by Foxconn Technology Group.
The extension may be as long as one month, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the decision hasn’t been publicly announced. Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou agreed a month ago to buy Sharp for more than 600 billion yen, but has held off on signing a final agreement while his advisers scrutinize the company’s finances.
While the wrangling has raised the risk of the deal falling apart, extra time from Sharp’s lenders will reduce the likelihood that Sharp will miss loan payments and face a dire situation, such as liquidation. Foxconn is seeking to cut the amount it will pay for equity in Sharp to about 389 billion yen, one person said. Foxconn will probably still pay about 100 billion yen for preferred shares that the banks own, though the payment may be delayed, the person said.