Toyota to Buy Out Daihatsu Affiliate

Toyota Motor Corp. confirms it will acquire the 48.8% of minicar affiliate Daihatsu Motor Co. it doesn’t already own. Bloomberg News reported the impending deal earlier this week.

Under the all-stock deal, valued at about 390 billion yen ($3.2 billion), Toyota will trade 0.26 of its shares for each Daihatsu share. It plans to delist Daihatsu’s shares in late July.

The merger will help Daihatsu apply Toyota’s next-generation technologies and expand sales beyond Japan, according to the company.

Daihatsu’s tiny vehicles typically are powered by engines displacing less than 1 liter. The company already supplies such vehicles to Toyota and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. It also makes some models marketed in the U.S. under Toyota’s Scion sub-brand.