Japan 's electronics giant Hitachi said Monday it had agreed to sell its US-based hard disk drive unit to rival Western Digital Corp for about 4.3 billion dollars in cash and stock , reported dpa.
Western Digital will acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (GST) for 3.5 billion dollars in cash and 25 million of its shares. Hitachi will own about 10 per cent of Western Digital and obtain two seats on the company's board, the two companies said in a statement.
The acquisition is expected to be completed during the third quarter, the companies said.
Hitachi has put more emphasis on its core businesses in recent years such as infrastructure businesses including transportation, as well as electric power systems including nuclear power generation.
Hitachi , which had planned to make Hitachi GST public in the United States through an initial public offering, decided to sell the unit as Western Digital offered to buy it on favorable terms, unnamed company officials said, cited by Kyodo News.
