FILE PHOTO: Japan Display Inc’s logo is pictured at its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, August 9, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares in Japan Display jumped 11 percent on Wednesday after a report said the smartphone screen maker was in talks for funding from Taiwan’s TPK Holding Co and China’s Silk Road Fund in exchange for a stake of around 30 percent.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, described the talks as “advanced”. Japan Display, which denied a similar report a month earlier, declined to comment.
The Apple Inc supplier has struggled with losses due to competition from cut-price Chinese players and slowing growth in smartphone demand. Analysts have also blamed its delayed adoption of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens, as Apple opted for such screens for its iPhoneX and bought them from rival Samsung Electronics Co.
Japan Display’s biggest investor, the Japanese government-backed INCJ fund, could not immediately comment while TPK did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reporting by Tokyo Newsroom; Additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu in TAIPEI; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman