Sanyo and Epson won permission from the European Commission to merge their small/medium size panel businesses. The EU said that the new company, Sanyo Epson Imaging Devices, despite becoming the largest small panel player, would still face stiff competition from rivals such as Sharp, Samsung, and Philips.

 

Set for October, the merger will produce a company with combined sales of roughly 360 billion Yen (US$3.2 billion; US$1 = 110.8 Yen). The agreement does not include each players' OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) businesses.