Japan's Panasonic Corp <6752.T>, which closed its tender offer for Sanyo Electric Co Ltd <6764.T> on Wednesday, said it has acquired 50.19 percent of the world's largest rechargeable battery maker in a deal worth 403.8 billion yen ($4.6 billion).

The success of the bid, through which Panasonic aimed to hold a majority stake, was widely expected as Sanyo's top three shareholders agreed to sell part of their stake into the tender, ensuring that Panasonic obtains more than half of Sanyo.

The takeover makes Panasonic, which was sitting on cash and cash equivalent of 1.46 trillion yen as of September 30, a dominant player in the fast-growing market for hybrid car batteries.

(Reporting by Mayumi Negishi and Nobuhiro Kubo)

Japan Manufacturing Electronics