Apple Supplier Japan Display Secures Bailout After Funding Shortfall

Japan Display said on Friday that a group led by Chinese investment firm Harvest Group had formally secured additional funding for a previously announced JPY 80 billion ($738 million) bailout plan for the screen maker. Harvest would increase its investment, including a $100 million investment from a JDI customer, Japan Display said. A source previously said that customer was Apple.

The Japanese company said it planned to hold a shareholders meeting on August 29 to formalise the bailout plan.

Apple's recent shift away from liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) has triggered a funding crunch for Japan Display, which depended on the US smartphone maker for 60.6 percent of its revenue in the last financial year ended March.

Harvest has been leading a consortium to keep Japan Display afloat, but Taiwanese screen maker TPK Holding Co and financial firm CGL Group dropped out of the process in June.

Japan Display also said that Hong Kong-based activist investor Oasis Management, already part of the bailout consortium, has offered to extend more financing if currency fluctuations result in a shortfall.

Apple was earlier said to make a $100 million investment in Japan Display.

Japan Display was formed in 2012 by combining the liquid-crystal display businesses of Hitachi, Toshiba and Sony in a government-brokered deal. It went public in March 2014, at which time it was worth over JPY 400 billion.

Written with inputs from Reuters