Chinese consumer electronics maker TCL Corp said it inked an agreement with Japan's Toshiba Corp Thursday to set up a 50-million-yuan joint venture to sell liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions in the Chinese market.
The new company, called Toshiba Visual Products (China), will be based in Huizhou, South China's Guangdong province, and is scheduled to start operation in September, TCL said in an overnight statement.
A TCL subsidiary in Huizhou will invest 24.5 million yuan to hold 49 percent of the venture, and Toshiba has agreed to invest 25.5 million yuan for a 51 percent stake.
Li Jianxin, former head of China business channels development at TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings, has been named general manager of the new venture, the Shanghai-based China Business News said.
TCL's chairman Li Dongsheng said the venture will combine TCL's industrial chain as well as strong manufacturing and sales capabilities in the China market with Toshiba's branding and technological advantages to help propel future development of both companies.
Toshiba seeks to boost its sales network in the Chinese market as it estimates that the LCD TV market in the country will nearly triple in size in fiscal 2012 from fiscal 2009, according to Japanese media reports.
