Tokyo - Japanese electronics giant Panasonic Corp and its smaller competitor Sanyo Electric Co have announced their agreement to a business alliance Friday, sealing Sanyo's takeover.

Panasonic will take control of about 70.5 per cent of Sanyo's shares after US investment bank Goldman Sachs, which is one of Sanyo's major shareholders together with two Japanese investment firms, agreed to the deal on Thursday.

Sanyo's management threw its support last month behind the takeover, which would create one of the world's largest consumer electronics companies.

A week long science conclave, organized by the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) and the department of science and technology (DST) at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (IIIT-A), will see participation of twelve Nobel Laureates from across the world.

ZTE USA, Inc., a division of ZTE Corporation, a top global telecommunications equipment and network solutions provider, declared that Smart PCS, an unlimited no contract pre-paid carrier, picked ZTE USA as the key CDMA infrastructure and device vendor partner to support its primary service launch.  

After stiff opposition and controversy over Satyam-Maytas deal, Indian IT giant, Satyam Computers called off the acquisition of India-based companies Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties.

Earlier, the board of directors has approved the proposal to acquire 51% in Maytas Infra and 100% in Maytas Properties at USD 1.6 billion. Maytas deals in infrastructure and development projects besides asset development and urban space infrastructure development.

According to Gartner, the worldwide semiconductor industry has been hit by the softening consumer and business demand as it recorded an estimated revenue decline of US$12 billion for 2008, compared to last year.

The effects of constrained budgets are being felt by the semiconductor companies. Moreover, there has been a tremendous slowdown in demand of products like cars, consumer electronics and Pc's that has led to the lower revenues. Components for sectors ranging from the technology industry to the medical industry are made by the semiconductor industry.

The UK-based Axon Group has been acquired by HCL Technologies for £441 million ($658 million), marking the largest ever tech buyout by an Indian firm. HCL Axon, the new entity formed after the buyout, is now chasing outsourcing deals worth $1.2 billion.

The acquisition makes HCL's SAP business three times bigger than that of Satyam, its closest SAP competition in the domestic market. Satyam's revenues from SAP implementation is said to be about $150 million.