Sharp Surges After Report of Capital Talks: Tokyo Mover

Sharp Corp. (6753), Japan’s largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, rose the most in seven weeks in Tokyo trading after the Asahi newspaper reported the company is seeking capital alliances with U.S. technology firms.

The shares rose as much as 10 percent to 176 yen, headed for the biggest gain since Sept. 4, and changed hands at 175 yen as of 10:09 a.m. The stock is the best performer today in the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average, which rose 0.2 percent.

Sharp is trying to get investments from Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and Apple Inc., the Asahi reported, without saying where it got the information. The Japanese company is seeking more partners after renegotiations with Foxconn Technology Group over a stake sale stalled, the report said.

“We are not in talks with any of those firms on a capital alliance,” Miyuki Nakayama, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for Sharp, said by telephone today. “In terms of business alliances, our policy is not to comment on discussions with any specific partners.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Mariko Yasu in Tokyo at myasu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net